Audrey Mash survives in hospital after heart stops for 6 hours, amid case doctors say is "exceptional at a global scale."

Axar,az reports citing AA that on what she described as something "like a miracle", a British woman in Barcelona was revived by doctors after her heart stopped beating for six hours.

"This is an exceptional case on a global scale," Dr. Eduard Argudo, a doctor at the Vall d'Hebron hospital where Audrey Mash was treated, told a press conference on Thursday, adding "It is the longest cardiac arrest ever recorded in Spain."

A 34-year-old English teacher living in Barcelona, Mash had gone hiking with her husband in the Pyrenees Mountains in November. After getting caught in an unexpected snowstorm without a water-proof jacket, severe hypothermia set in and her body temperature dropped to around 18C (64.4F).

Her husband, Rohan Schoeman told reporters he was "terrified" as he watched his wife lose consciousness, with Mash's condition worsening as they waited for emergency services to arrive in the remote area.

"I couldn't feel a breath, I couldn't feel a heartbeat," said Schoeman.

When Mash finally arrived at the hospital nearly five hours after the first signs of hypothermia started to set in, doctors explained at a press conference that she had no vital signs -- there was no activity in her heart, kidneys or lungs.

Then, after around four hours in the hospital receiving treatment from a specialized machine called an EMCO, which oxygenizes the blood, her body reached 30C degrees and her heart began to beat again.