A HAMPSHIRE man died in Florida after his waders filled with water and caused him to drown.

John Hindle, of Botleigh Road in Swanwick, was in Orlando with his wife Angela when he lost his balance and drowned.

The 65-year-old was wearing waders, which filled with air and water causing his feet to float.

Mrs Hindle said her husband was walking towards their jetty to come inside for lunch when it happened, at around 12.45pm on April 19 last year.

Giving evidence she said he often cleared the plants but had not been in that part of the lake before and was a poor swimmer.

“I said to him was he coming in because it was lunch time,” she said.

“He lost his balance; he had a balance problem anyway which is why I didn't want him to go in.”

She said her husband panicked and she jumped in to try to save him but couldn't reach him because the water was too deep.

After running to the house to call 911 she shouted for help and two fishermen helped carry Mr Hindle's body to shore.

They performed CPR until the ambulance arrived.

The retired auto electrician was taken to Florida Hospital East where he was pronounced dead at 1.57pm.

Jan Garavaglia, chief medical examiner at the hospital, carried out the post mortem which found Mr Hindle had undiagnosed severe cardiovascular and coronary artery disease.

She said it contributed to his death as it would have “made it more difficult for him to survive the ordeal.”

She added that he was obese, weighing around 22 stone.

Mr Hindle had previously suffered from prostate cancer and had been married for 21 years.

Senior coroner for central Hampshire, Grahame Short, recorded a narrative verdict.

He said: “It's apparent to me that John Hindle was a large man and that he was suffering from cardiovascular disease which doesn't seem to have been identified or treated.

“I think that he may have suffered a heart attack at any time but clearly the strain of an incident of this sort made it more difficult for him to survive. It is quite likely in my opinion that as a result of panicking he may have suffered some sort of cardiac event, although that has not been established from the autopsy.”

He gave his condolences to Mr Hindle's family.