British man drowns after suffering cramp while swimming in Austrian lake

Victim complained of pain and then disappeared below surface

The 33-year-old was swimming at Schwarzindien beach area in Mondsee when the accident happened (Google Maps)

A British man drowned in an Austrian lake after suffering from cramp in his foot, police said.

The 33-year-old was in the water at the Schwarzindien beach area in Mondsee on Wednesday when he complained of the pain and went below the surface.

State police officers said a 36-year-old woman, also from the UK, "screamed for help" when he did not come back to the surface.

Other swimmers tried to help, but the man’s body was later recovered.

Mondsee is less than 20 miles east of Salzburg.

The accident comes less than a week after a former lifeguard was forced to choose which brother to save after two men got into difficulties while swimming in a lake in the Lake District.

Yanek Kowal said he had to make “the most difficult decision of my life” during the rescue at Howtown Bay in Ullswater.

One of the men, Bryxzel Galeon, 21, pushed his brother towards Mr Kowal before he “sank very quickly”.

“I could not get to him in time,” Mr Kowal said. “The other young man was starting to go under. This was the time I had to make the most difficult decision in my life. I decided to save the one just submerging.”