During the helicopter transfer to Montpellier University Hospital, the medical team warmed the man’s body whilst maintaining his vital signs by continuing to perform chest compressions.
The victim was suffering from hypothermia; their body temperature was 22 degrees. It was this temperature that helped to protect their brain and vital organs.
The intensive care team then keeps him alive using a machine that acts as an artificial heart, and the doctors begin to warm him up.
Eighteen hours after his cardiac arrest, the man’s heart started beating again.