Public's efforts to save cyclist who collapsed while riding on Rhinefield Road, Brockenhurst

PASSERS-BY rushed to help a cyclist who came off his bike after reportedly suffering a medical episode while riding in the New Forest.

The casualty, a man believed to have been in his 50s, collapsed on Rhinefield Road, Brockenhurst, at around 4.30pm on Saturday.

Eyewitness Munro Wright told the A&T one man performed chest compressions on the cyclist, who was lying on his back in the road, while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

The artist, who was returning from a walk in the area, said another helped fetched a defibrillator from the nearby Aldridge Hill campsite. But none of them seemed to know how to use it, he said.

“I'd almost got back to my car at Beachern Wood car park when I came across the incident,” he recalled.

“The man who gave the casualty chest compressions did so non-stop for almost 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived but he was unable to revive him.”

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight air ambulance was among the services sent as paramedics took over.

They assessed and treated the casualty before taking him to Southampton General Hospital in what was described by a South Central Ambulance Service spokesperson as “a life-threatening condition”. No further updates were available.