Shropshire Star

English Channel tragedy: Shropshire swimmer Nick Thomas had heart failure within view of French coast

English Channel swimmer Nick Thomas suffered heart failure within view of the French coast, an inquest was told.

Published

A coroner ruled the ultra athlete died as a result of misadventure.

Mr Thomas, who began his marathon swim in late August, had been in training for months and was well prepared for the mission.

A post mortem found he had suffered from an acute cardiorespiratory collapse caused by prolonged open sea swimming.

Nick Thomas before the swim

Mr John Ellery, senior coroner for Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin held the inquest at Shrewsbury's Shirehall. He heard that Mr Thomas, of Berwyn View, Ellesmere, had previously successfully swum the Channel and had taken part in numerous ultra athlete competitions around the world.

The inquest heard that the 45-year-old father of two had entered the water at Dover at around 5.45am on August 28. The 21-mile endurance feat took longer than was expected and after 16 hours of swimming Mr Thomas was starting to tire.

He told his back-up crew that he was getting confused by the lights on the shore and they suggested that he swim close to the support boat and follow its lights.

But Mr Thomas began to drift away from the boat.

Coroner's officer Michael Homden said: "Within seconds he was lifted from the water on to the boat and CPR was started."

He added that when the support boat reached the shore, which was less than a mile away, an ambulance was waiting and rushed Mr Thomas to Calais General Hospital.

However, Mr Thomas passed away within hours.

His body was repatriated to the UK and his funeral will be held at St Mary's Church in Ellesmere tomorrow at 11am. Mourners have been asked not to wear black.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.