Disturbing video captures moment referee, 32, suffers heart attack on pitch and DIES on his way to hospital
- Víctor Hugo Hurtado collapsed in the 47th minute of a Bolivian league game
- Hurtado was stabilized on the pitch after he fainted but suffered his first heart attack while he was being lifted into an ambulance
- The 32-year-old was ushered to a local hospital five minutes away but went into cardiac arrest outside the medical facility was was declared dead
- The president of Bolivia wrote on Twitter that ‘Bolivian football is in mourning’
Local television video showed the horrible moment a referee in Bolivia collapsed on the pitch before he suffered two heart attacks and later died at a local hospital on Sunday.
Víctor Hugo Hurtado, 32, was taking charge of the Always Ready and Oriente Petrolero’s Bolivian league game when he suddenly fell in the 47th minute.
Video footage showed that Hurtado was looking at one of the players striking the ball before he fainted at Villa Ingenio Municipal Stadium in El Alta.
WARNING – DISTRESSING FOOTAGE
The Bolivian referee (pictured lying on the stretcher) was stabilized after collapsing on the pitch. But he suffered two heart attacks afterwards, the second one took place while he was inside the ambulance after arriving at a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead
Víctor Hugo Hurtado after he suffered two heart attacks moments after collapsing while officiating a football match in Bolivia on Sunday
According to Bolivian outlet El Diario, Always Ready doctor Eric Koziner said that the medical staff took Hurtado’s vital signs and managed to stabilize him moments and administered him oxygen before he suffered his first heart attack.
Paramedics rushed the referee to El Norte Hospital, located just five minutes away from the stadium, but Hurtado went into cardiac arrest while he was inside the ambulance just outside the medical facility.
He was declared dead about 25 minutes later.
‘They did everything possible so that they could revive him, but unfortunately the efforts were not enough,’ Koziner said.
Video footage captured the moment Víctor Hugo Hurtado fainted during the football match
A referee in Bolivia died from a heart attack after collapsing while officiating a match
Footage emerged on social media of the moment Hurtado toppled over backwards during the match, with players from both sides immediately rushing over and calling on treatment.
The match was played at Always Ready’s home stadium, which has an altitude of 13,418 feet above sea level.
It is considered the stadium located at the highest altitude in Bolivia and the world in which football is played professionally.
Hurtado had refereed a match between The Strongest and Blooming last Wednesday at Hernando Siles Stadium, which sits 11,932 feet above sea level in La Paz.
El Alteño reported that Hurtado did not show signs of any health problems then.
The match was played at Always Ready’s Municipal Stadium. It is located 13,418 feet above sea level
The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, wrote on Twitter: ‘We regret the passing of referee Victor Hugo Hurtado.
‘We send our condolences and solidarity to your family, friends and colleagues. Bolivian football is in mourning.’
The match was goalless when Hurtado collapsed and finished with Always Ready winning 5-0.
Hurtado is the second referee to die on the pitch in a week.
Isildo Fabiano Bianchi da Silva, 44, died after suffering a heart attack on May 10 while officiating a local futsal league game in Sao Paulo, Brazil.