A man’s heart was revived after it stopped for at least 16 minutes. The man is said to be a 38 year old Indian who was found unconscious in a swimming pool at Country Club Hotel in Al Rifa'a on July 22 at about 10.30am, The National reports.

The paramedics arrived approximately four minutes later.

“When paramedics arrived, they found the victim face down without a pulse and he was not breathing. The electrocardiogram (ECG) showed that the heart was not beating and there was a flat line on the monitor,” said Dr Fahad Al Zarouni, head of regulation of ambulance services at Dubai Ambulance Services, gulfnews.com reports. The man had suffered from a heart attack while he was swimming in the pool.

According to reports, the patient's pulse began some 12 minutes after performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). He was then rushed to Rashid Hospital for medical treatment.

“The readings indicated that he was dead but paramedics followed standard procedures and carried out first aid, that included performing chest compressions, as well as providing oxygen and giving the patient two doses of adrenaline at 1mg each to stimulate the heart beat,” explained Dr. Al Zarouni to gulfnews.com.

Dr. Al Zarouni said that this type of coming back to life after being apparently dead is called Return of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC) and is characterized by coughing, breathing and revival of a pulse.

ROSC occurs in about 35 to 61 percent of emergency cases where the patient receives treatment outside a hospital, according to a study published in Prehospital Emergency Care. The study also says that not all of these patients survive to hospital arrival and most of them get a second heart attack.

“These types of incidents in cardiac arrests can happen and is not very rare, and the patient was expected to make a recovery,” said Dr. Al Zarouni to gulfnews.com.

The patient is said to be stable and currently at Rashid Hospital.