Late night party-goers help lifeboat crew save man from Thames

Two party-goers helped a lifeboat crew save the life of a man hidden from view in the River Thames.

The RNLI lifeboat was launched at the request of London Coastguard at 4.07am yesterday following a 999 report of a person in the water near Hungerford Bridge, central London.

The crew arrived on scene within minutes and heard loud shouts coming from the bridge above.

Volunteer RNLI crewman Matt Leat said: "There were two lads on the bridge above us shouting very loudly, waving their arms and pointing downstream. I'm pretty certain they were on their way home from a night out, but lucky they were, as they saved us precious seconds in locating the casualty.

"The lads were pointing towards two large boats moored in the middle of the river so we zoomed over. It was dark and he was well hidden from view, but we could just make out a face poking out above the water between the two boats.

"The tide was flowing fast, funnelling water between the vessels, which made it very difficult to get to the casualty. Our helmsman skilfully manoeuvred the lifeboat into position which allowed the crew to reach the man and pull him aboard to safety."

The RNLI lifeboat dashed back to London Tower lifeboat station, located next to Waterloo Bridge, where the man was handed into the care of London Ambulance Service.

At the station he was taken out of his wet clothing and given survivor clothes to wear. The man did not appear to have any lasting injuries.

Matt added: "Once he was in the river he only had minutes to live. The River Thames is very cold and you can only cling on to something for so long before hypothermia sets in and you lose your ability to grip. If this man had let go of the mooring lines, he most likely would have been lost to the strong currents flowing between the vessels and died."