dialled 911 within ten seconds of the drama.

The 72-year-old man died later in hospital and firefighters claimed they lost vital minutes in their bid to save him because they had been alerted via a call through their switchboard.

But Rose Stupfel saw the man, from Warwick, fall ill after playing tennis at Port Royal Golf Course and said she dialled 911 immediately.

She added: "Additional calls were made and it must have been someone else who called the Fire Service switchboard.

"But I rang 911 and got patched through to the ambulance.'' Her boyfriend Jeff Brant said it was "a shame'' that Rose's call was not transferred to the Fire Service -- because they had a medically trained crew just one minute down the road at Port Royal Fire Station.

"If that crew had got there immediately, maybe it could have turned out better,'' he said.

"I wasn't there to see what happened but I know the emergency service was called. Rose called 911 within ten seconds of seeing him fall.'' Medically-trained firefighters gave emergency first aid to the victim until the ambulance arrived, but the man died in hospital.

Fire chiefs have reminded the public that all emergencies should be called to 911, where fire, Police and ambulance services can be contacted.

All non-emergency calls to the Fire Service should be made to 292-5555.

HEALTH HTH