Heroic members of a beach patrol team in north-east Essex restarted a man’s heart three times when they fought to save his life.

The man, who collapsed after suffering a heart attack in the public toilets of Clacton’s seafront at around 5pm on Saturday, was not breathing and had a weak pulse when Clacton’s Beach Patrol Team was alerted to the incident.

Beach Patrols Scott Lawrence, Bethany Higgins, Mason Garey and Ryan Clay worked on him for around 30 minutes and restarted his heart three times before paramedics took over.

The man, who is in his 30s and from Clacton, was then taken to Colchester General Hospital by ambulance.

The four members of the beach patrol team used cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a defibrillator, and were praised by paramedics for their prompt actions.

The rest of the team were involved in dealing with the crowd that gathered around the incident.

Nick Turner, Tendring District Council’s cabinet member for environment and coast protection, said that all of those involved did a “fantastic job” in difficult circumstances.

“We are very fortunate in Tendring to have such an excellent team working on our seafronts that are ready to help out should anyone get into difficulty,” he said.

“Fortunately, they were very close at hand as the man collapsed in the toilet block just above the team’s boathouse.

“They were quickly on the scene and worked for around half an hour to help save the man’s life and they deserve a great deal of praise for their actions.”

Police, two paramedic cars and an ambulance also went to the scene on Saturday evening.