Lifeboat crew saves man clinging to barge on River Thames who was 'moments from death'

 
The crew race to the man stuck at the rubbish collector

This is the moment a man was plucked from “the jaws of death” by a lifeboat crew in a dramatic night-time river rescue.

The man, who is in his twenties, told his rescuers he had jumped into the Thames near HMS Belfast after spotting what he thought was another person drowning.

The alarm was then raised by passengers of a passing Thames Clipper who saw him clinging precariously to the chains of a large rubbish-collecting vessel in the 8c water.

The tourist is thought to have been in the river for up to ten minutes. An RNLI team was dispatched from Tower lifeboat station, which is next to Waterloo bridge.

They found the man in a “very distressed” state just as the tidal flow was threatening to suck him beneath the vessel, which collects floating debris.

Stuart Morrison, Chris Walker and Stephen Wheatley plucked the struggling man, who is Italian, from the water close to City Hall.

The rescue was captured by a video camera mounted in the rescue boat.

Mr Morrison, 54, said: “It was dramatic.

Chris Walker and Stuart Morrison were two of three men who plucked the man from the water in front of City Hall

“The tide was on the ebb which means he was in the path of the rubbish collector and so he was in the jaws of death as we rescued him.

“Had he let go, the tide would have taken him.

“He would have had no chance and been taken straight underneath the collector.

“In another two or three minutes he would have been inside it.”

The man is hauled on to the rescue craft

Helmsman Mr Walker, 33, said: “It was dark so it was difficult spotting him, but once we saw him you could see he was hanging on to the chains with just one hand.

“It was a cold night, about eight degrees in the water and there was a two to three knot tide running at the time of the call.

“Had it been a faster spring tide he could very easily have been sucked under.

“He was very distressed and emotional and was clutching onto a piece of wood with his other hand to try and keep afloat. “He said he had jumped in to rescue someone else.

The rescue boat rushes down the Thames at top speed to save the man

“We did a further search to see if anyone else was in the water but it was clear there wasn’t.” The man was brought on board the lifeboat and taken to St Katharine’s Pier where London Ambulance Service was waiting.

A Met police spokesman said the victim was “suffering the effects of being cold water for a period of time”, but was “conscious and talking” to police officers.

He was later treated in a hospital.

The Marine Policing Unit, the Met helicopter and a London Fire Brigade boat supported the rescue, which happened at about 8pm on Wednesday.

Crews searched the water for a further 40 minutes but found no evidence of a second casualty.

Last year, the RNLI’s mix of full-time and volunteer crew, operating from Tower, Chiswick and Teddington stations, rescued 372 people.

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