English
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese (Simplified)
Croatian
Czech
French
Hindi
Italian
Kurdish (Kurmanji)
Polish
Punjabi
Romanian
Urdu
news
Man rescued from River Tyne
On Saturday 15 December shortly before 5am we were alerted to reports that a male had entered the River Tyne from either the Redheugh or High Level Bridge.
At the time of the call the tide was low and on the turn, weather conditions were cold and dry with air temperature at +1 degree Celsius, with moderate southerly wind.The fire boat from Byker with support from crews from Newcastle Central and Gateshead were dispatched to the scene to start the search operation.
Landside crews conducted search operations from the bankside while the fire boat searched from the water.
Firefighter Darren Fenton of Blue Watch Gateshead used a thermal scanner at the maximum zoom on the Newcastle side and found a faint heat source on the Gateshead side river bank.
Firefighter Fenton alerted the fire boat crews who made their way to this area. Once they made contact they found a semi-responsive and profoundly hypothermic man with no obvious injuries. He was then transferred on the fire boat and handed over to North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) colleagues at the NE1 pontoon after which he was taken to hospital.
John Pratt Area Manager for Service Delivery at TWFRS said: “I would like to thank and praise the crews who undoubtedly saved this man’s life. Although it is a real team effort on this occasion Firefighter Fenton deserves recognition for his professionalism and skill in his role in being able to redirect the fire boat crews to the casualty. Well done to everyone who was involved in this rescue with thanks to NEAS staff also. We wish the man we rescued a full recovery.”
