Following his dramatic revival by paramedics and first-aiders at Watchet last weekend, the German visitor sent a message of gratitude to all involved this week.

The visitor was air-lifted to hospital in Taunton by Devon Air Ambulance following a heart attack in a holiday cottage in West Street.

Thomas and his wife Tanja told friends who visited him at Musgrove Park Hospital they were ‘grateful to everyone in Watchet for saving him’.

Watchet friends of the couple posted a picture on Facebook of Thomas sitting up in bed joking.

They told the couple it was ‘a miraculous ending’ to the episode.

The rescue, on Saturday evening last week, involved paramedics, local police and HM Coastguard volunteers

After reviving the patient, they transferred him to a waiting air ambulance on the West pier and he was flown to hospital in a serious condition.