A 66-YEAR-old York woman drowned when she suffered a heart problem as she swam in the sea, an inquest heard.

Retired librarian Katherine Willis, who did voluntary work in the city, was on holiday in Oman when the tragedy happened.

The inquest at York Register Office heard how Ms Willis, of Burton Court, Burton Stone Lane, had been snorkelling with a group of other tourists on February 19 last year, when someone noticed she wasn't moving her arms.

She was part of a coach party with the company Explore and they had all stopped for lunch at Bama beach, near Finns Village, in the Sultanate of Oman.

The group had gone swimming, except for June Smith, an American tourist, who had stayed on the shore.

She said in a statement that she had seen Ms Willis snorkelling in shallow water, near to the shore. When she glanced back up she had been a little further out, but still not as far as the others were.

The driver from the company then joined Ms Smith and they noticed Ms Willis wasn't moving her arms. They also could not see her breathing tube.

Ms Smith said: "The driver ran to the shore and I saw him quickly take his shoes off and go into the water and pull her out. Another driver went running down to help.

"The tour leader and a doctor in the group then performed CPR. Kay had never uttered a sound to indicate she was having a problem and she had been in great spirits during the whole trip. It's hard to believe what happened."

Attempts to resuscitate Ms Willis failed and she was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Dr Daniel Scott, the consultant pathologist who carried out a post mortem examination, said he had found some evidence of natural heart disease. He said: "If the conditions in the water were good and Mrs Willis was a capable swimmer it is more likely that natural heart disease occurred."

Coroner Donald Coverdale said the underlying cause of death was a heart condition, so a "natural event" had led to death from drowning. But he said it was "impossible to say" if Ms Willis would have died if she had suffered the problem when she was on dry land.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded.