YACHT skipper David Bell spent two months battling for his life after falling ill while working in South America.

But the 39-year-old, from Boughton, near Faversham, now has another fight on his hands - against the company that flew him home for treatment. Cega Air Ambulance is suing Mr Bell for almost £32,000 - the cost of bringing him from Brazil to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

The Chichester air ambulance firm is claiming that, because of an insurance mix-up, he was not covered for either the hospital treatment or the journey. Mr Bell, who believed he was insured, said he would be left bankrupt unless he fought the claim and won.

He will face the company in court next week when he applies to a High Court judge to set aside Cega's judgement against him. If he is successful a full hearing will take place.

Mr Bell said: "I am bitter. I lost my job, I lost money and I lost a year out of my life. Now I end up being sued. I have to fight it. I have no choice."

He was working as a skipper on a million dollar yacht the Lady Francesca when he contracted life-threatening pancreatitis in the summer of 1999. He was admitted to hospital in Natal, Northern Brazil, and was immediately taken into intensive care.

He was so ill his family was warned they could lose him and his brother Stephen, who lives in The Crescent, Boughton, flew to Brazil to be with him.

Mr Bell believed his employers, a company called Rum Jungle Properties, had insured him for medical expenses, including the cost of repatriation. But, unbeknown to him, the company had failed to pay the insurance premium and he was not covered.

In a further mix-up, Cega mistakenly thought they had been told the policy was still current. And they paid Mr Bell's hospital bill and the cost of his repatriation - £31,954.

On July 17 he flew home. Cega had flown a doctor and nurse out to Brazil to accompany him back and he was taken to Kent and Canterbury Hospital. He had emergency keyhole surgery but his life was back on the line again when he contracted the killer hospital bug MRSA.

He said: "I spent two months in Kent and Canterbury recovering. When I came out of hospital I could not walk because I had been bed-bound for so long." It took a year before he recovered fully and he still has to have regular hospital check-ups.

He said: "The letter informing me that I was being sued for this money came like a bolt out of the blue. This illness took a year of my life. Now I am facing bankruptcy, being blacklisted by insurance companies, unable to get a loan or a mortgage.

He stressed: "I have not got £32,000 to give them. It has already cost me thousands of pounds and I am having to borrow money from my family to defend myself from this claim. It is a cautionary tale for people who think they are insured."