Security has been tightened in a Buenos Aires hospital treating the former Argentine football star, Diego Maradona, after a man masquerading as a doctor slipped into his room and tried to sell him some cocaine.

Doctors said the drug dealer, dressed in a white smock and wearing a stethoscope, fled before he could be questioned.

Maradona is currently recovering from an overdose of cocaine which he suffered last week while on holiday in neighbouring Uruguay.

Doctors say his heart has been severely weakened by his drug addiction and are trying to persuade him to seek rehabilitation overseas, possibly in Cuba or Canada. During his playing career, Maradona was twice banned for failing drug tests and has undergone repeated treatment for drug abuse.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service