LEGHORN —  A British general, aged 85, has died whilst swimming off the coast of Tuscany’s Elba island, police said. 

  George Michael Swindells, a former British army major general who was head of the British veterans of the Korean War, was swimming off the Mediterranean island of Elba, when he suffered a medical problem about 300 ft from land. His wife alerted Carabinieri police after her husband failed to return from his swim, and he was seen floating some distance from the shore. 

  Emergency volunteers who reached the general tried unsuccessfully to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 15:30 local time on Tuesday.