Fabrice Muamba unveils Guernsey public defibrillator

Mr Mapp said the profile the campaign was given by Fabrice Muamba was 'vital'

Guernsey's first public access defibrillator has been unveiled by former Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba at Footes Lane.

The former England Under-21 suffered a cardiac arrest on live television in an FA Cup tie last year.

Despite his heart stopping for an hour he made a full recovery, but at the expense of his football career.

Mr Muamba said it was important for such machines to be available near sports grounds.

He said: "In case of an incident we have access to a machine and hopefully we can save more lives."

Mr Muamba said he did miss playing in the top flight but "health is the most important thing" and his experience had "made him more outgoing than ever".

'Save someone's life'

Mark Mapp, chairman of the Guernsey Cardiac Action Group, said: "There will be 11 further deployments within our community, hopefully by the end of the year.

"Possibly within the schools, the high schools and around Guernsey's coastline."

The funding for the defibrillators came from the 2012 Swimarathon, which raised more than £41,000 for local causes.

To access the machines, which are used to resuscitate people who have suffered a cardiac arrest, the island's ambulance need to give out a code obtained by a 999 call.

Mr Mapp said: "Ideally people would be trained in their use but the resuscitation council of the UK say that anyone can use them, they are safe sophisticated pieces of equipment and you can't do anyone any harm but what you can do is save someone's life."