A doctor living next to a beach saved the life of a surfer who had been hit by lightning.

Rob Marshall was alerted after lightning struck a tree in his garden, yards from the beach.

He ran down the cliff path after he saw that two surfers were in trouble.

Bath University student Cecilia Phillips, 21, had no pulse and was not breathing - a male friend had also been hit but was still breathing.

Helicopter airlift

Using cardiac massage, Dr Marshall kept her circulation going until paramedics arrived about 20 minutes later.

Using a defibrillator - which restores heartbeats by electric shocks - paramedics restarted Miss Phillips heart and she was airlifted to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

The student, from Hertfordshire, is now said to be in a stable condition.

Grant Garge, 24, from Bath, is also recovering from electrocution.

Two collapsed

Dr Marshall told BBC News Online: "I heard some thunder and when I looked out there was a huge explosion.

"A thunderbolt had hit a tree 30ft from us. We jumped right out of our skins.

"I heard the surfers below and saw two of them collapsed on the beach."

Surfers praised

Dr Marshall, who works in the pathology department at the Truro hospital, said: "Any doctor has the skills to do what I did - I was just lucky to be on site.

"It is a good feeling. We don't get to do much of that kind of work in pathology."

Dr Marshall also praised the stricken surfers' friends.

"They had them out of the water double-quick and had them in the recovery position.

"They had done all the right things."

Miss Phillips had been taking part in a surfing competition with 30 others.

She is a member of Bath University's surfing club and regularly organises surfing trips to Newquay.