Italian coastguard brings kitten back to life with CPR

A fitting story for International Cat Day.

A member of the Italian coastguard put his CPR skills to use last week when a little kitten was found struggling in the ocean.

A group of children on the shore in Marsala noticed the kitten in the water and alerted the nearby coastguard crew, who had just returned from a patrol mission.

According to their Facebook page, a crew member jumped into the sea to rescue the animal and, once on board, the crewman adapted his training to help revive the kitten.

A video released on Friday showed crew members administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and massaging the kitten to remove water from its lungs, encouraging it: "Breathe, breathe. Wake up".

After a few minutes, a few weak "meows" can be heard.

The kitten - who looks to be no older than a month - was brought to shore to recover and a vet has said he is now in good health.

Guardia Costeria/Facebook

He has unofficially been adopted by the local maritime office - they have named him Charlie.