A man in his late 40s had a massive cardiac arrest while running the marathon in the city on Sunday. He was resuscitated as he was rushed to nearby hospital immediately.

Working in an engineering firm here, the man, who was among the nearly 13,500 runners, swooned all on a sudden. Alert volunteers took him to nearby K G Hospital in an Army ambulance.

On examination, doctors said he had suffered a massive cardiac arrest for nearly three to four minutes but has been successfully resuscitated. Further test revealed he had one block, which was immediately stented, hospital chairman Dr G Bhakthavatsalam, who also participated in the run, said.

Though his heart has now started functioning, his brain has suffered some minor problem like ischemic, which will take a few hours or days for recovery, he said.

Bhakthavatsalam advised the marathon aspirants to check, prior to participation, whether their body could sustain such run or practise tread mill for a few days before the start of the event.