A SOUTHAMPTON dad who died after collapsing on holiday in Tunisia may have swallowed infected water during a 'fit' in a Turkish bath, an inquest heard.

Jagat Singh Bhatti, of Waterloo Road, Freemantle, caught a rare bug which may have compromised his recovery from a "catastrophic" lung infection in an African clinic, Winchester Coroner's Court was told.

His wife and children heard at the inquest on Wednesday how the 60-year-old, known as Jagat Singh, visited Turkish hot baths outside the coastal town of Nabeul during a family holiday earlier this year.

He suffered a "fit" in the water and almost drowned, his son Steven said in a statement read to the inquest. Relatives at the hearing described the baths as unhygienic.

Mr Singh, who had no history of fits and was considered healthy, was pulled out, given CPR and rushed to hospital.

It was later revealed he had an undiagnosed heart disease.

He was admitted on February 18 to the private Clinique le Violette, where he was sedated by doctors.

Relatives who flew to Africa on hearing the news told the inquest of their frustration at the language barrier with staff, who reported various conditions including a virus.

They could only see him through a window whilst wearing protective clothing, the hearing was told.

Fighting back tears his widow, Santosh Kamari Bhatti, said: "'He's improving, he's okay, no crying' - that's what they'd been telling me all the time."

Doctors said he would be able to fly home by air ambulance by around March 9 and would take up to eight weeks to recover in the UK, the inquest heard.

But when the family arrived in hospital on March 2, Steven Bhatti said doctors used "hand gestures" and "broken English" to explain his father had died in the early hours of that morning.

Tests in Southampton later revealed he had contracted severe pneumonia which led to multiple organ failure.

"The language barrier was extremely frustrating and communication was extremely poor," Mr Bhatti said.

"We want to know what caused dad to fit and what caused dad to drown."

Dr Norman Carr, who conducted a post-mortem in Southampton, discovered severe undiagnosed heart disease which was likely to have caused the collapse, as well as a rare virus which could have blocked his antibiotic treatment for what he called "catastrophic" pneumonia.

Full notes from his hospital stint were unavailable, but Dr Carr suggested Mr Singh may have caught the bug in hospital or from swallowing infected bath water.

Mr Singh was the son of Gurbachan Kaur Bhatti, a central figure in Southampton's Sikh community who died last autumn after a long illness.

Senior central Hampshire coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of natural causes.

He said: "On the face of it this is a natural disease," he said. "Any of us can get an infection and get pneumonia at any time.

"It is the particular circumstances: that place, that he sustained the collapse and that he caught the bug. If he had been on the street, in bed, wherever, he may not have died as a result of acquiring the bug."