Walsall man, 51, suffers heart attack by canal
Ambulance crews were sent to help a man who had suffered a heart attack on a tow path by a canal in Bloxwich.
At around 7.45pm on Monday night the 51-year-old man was on the tow path that runs between Freeth Bridge and Stoney Lane Bridge when he had the attack.
Initially two ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: "The first crew to arrive had carried all of their equipment to the scene and diagnosed that the man was having a heart attack and started treatment, but clearly the priority was to get him to hospital as quickly as possible; no easy task, given the situation.
"They requested assistance from HART, the Hazardous Area response Team who were immediately mobilised.
"The man was placed on a scoop stretcher that the second crew had brought with them and between them, the two ambulance crews started to carry the man along the muddy tow path.
"Thankfully, before too long the HART team arrived with a specialist wheeled stretcher designed to go across rough ground and assisted to get the man back to the ambulance.
"Not only did they provide extra hands, but also lighting to make the journey safer given the light was pretty much gone.
"The ambulance crew continued to monitor and stabilise the man's condition as he was taken to the ambulance before taking him on blue lights to the Heart and Lung Centre at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton for specialist care."
The man was described as doing well when he arrived at hospital.
