A man who got out of his car in sub-zero conditions to help a fellow motorist has died after reportedly suffering a heart attack.

The man, believed to be from Lowestoft, was stuck on a back road in Bergh Apton when a couple helping to free cars using their four-wheel-drive vehicle came across him.

Kiera O’Donoghue and her partner Cameron Russell, both 23, have spent hours over the last few days helping stricken motorists.

But on Thursday, while on their way home to Cranworth Gardens, Norwich, the couple came across a number of cars stuck on Burgate Lane.

Miss O’Donoghue said: “We were coming home and we thought we would check the back roads, a couple of them were clear but as we went down one loads of people were stuck.

“We went over and there was this man who had got out of his car and had a heart attack, and fallen to the floor.

“They were doing CPR but when the ambulance arrived, they pronounced him dead.”

The pair, both farmers, stayed and comforted the man’s wife, and while she went with paramedics they looked after the couple’s dog and took the abandoned car to their home.

Miss O’Donoghue added: “It’s horrendous. He was just coming out for a normal day. They were going on holiday to Mexico and were dropping their dog off. The worst of it is the person in front was stuck so he was going to see if he could help, his car was stuck as well.”

The couple said they took the man’s wife back to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (NNUH) this morning, and would also be helping with funeral arrangements.

Miss O’Donoghue said: “Obviously our thoughts are with the family, he must have been so frozen, it’s horrendous.”

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Trust (EEAST) said: “We were called to reports of a patient who wasn’t breathing in Alpington, Norwich, on Thursday, March 1.

“Two ambulances and an ambulances officer were dispatched and battled through the snow to reach the patient, who was taken to hospital in a critical condition.”