HEARTFELT tributes have been paid to a man who collapsed on a Dorset beach and later died.

The elderly man, named locally as Albert Aleshin, was airlifted from Lyme Regis beach on July 23 to Dorset County Hospital where he died.

It happened during the town’s busy Lifeboat Week.

Mr Aleshin, believed to be a holidaymaker and Russian professor, was spotted in difficulties in the water.

Hundreds of people were cleared from the beach to allow the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance to land.

Crowds gathered to try and help him, including Swedish couple Gunilla and Alan Emneby and 21-year-old Lyme resident Jack Turner, who helped pull him from the sea and attempted to save his life.

Town crier Alan Vian said thanks must be given to the emergency services and the efforts of the whole Lyme Regis community, who did ‘everything they could’ to try and save Albert.

He added: “Everybody in Lyme responded together; he stood the best possible chance of survival because of the help he got, and everything that could have been done for him was done.

“My thoughts are with his family at this time, particularly because he was on holiday in Lyme and his family were with him when this happened.

“It’s always much more difficult when people are away from their home and in a different town, but Lyme welcomes everybody as its own.”