This is the moment a young man was pulled from the Thames after becoming trapped under Waterloo Bridge.
The man, thought to be in his late twenties, fell into the water as he tried to retrieve a bag containing his phone, passport and flight tickets.
He stripped to his underpants and climbed over a security fence near the Savoy Pier, then got into a water culvert, at about 8pm on Saturday. He was then apparently caught by a current, and his friend on the riverbank dialled 999.
Dramatic footage shows the visibly shaken man clinging to Tower RNLI lifeboat crew members for balance as he is led to safety using a ladder. He did not get his bag back.
Tower RNLI helmsman Chris Walker, whose body camera captured the rescue, said the man was lucky someone had seen him go into the water.
Mr Walker told the Standard: “Because he was hidden in those culverts there was no way we could see him.
"There was no way we could have got a boat in so we had to commit someone to the water. There’s nothing to hold onto in there.
"He could have been down there for hours and nobody would have known. With the noise of the traffic there’s no way we would have heard him.”
The 50-minute rescue was hampered by falling water levels in the culvert as the tide went out, Mr Walker said.
He added: “There were no injuries, he was just cold. He was very emotional and particularly worried about his parents finding out. If you do drop your possessions into the river, don’t go after them, ask for help.
“There are no possessions worth putting your life at risk for.”
