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Thursday, October 10 - Wednesday, October 16, 2013
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1,235
Thursday, October 10 - Wednesday, Octobe r 16, 2013
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A TRAGEDY HAS BEEN AVOIDED Fishermen’s actions save pensioner from drowning QUICK thinking from two fishermen helped to save an elderly woman’s life after she fell into the River Thames in Little Wittenham near Didcot. Roy Walker from Buckingham and Mark Seagroatt from Swindon heard the shouts of an elderly couple, aged 69 and 70, while they were out fishing last Sunday afternoon. Mr Walker and Mr Seagrott found a woman in the water, trapped between a boat and the river bank, and a gentleman trying to keep his wife afloat. “I loosened the guide ropes on the boat to push it away from the bank because if we had jumped on while it was still tied up we would have squashed her,” explained Mr Walker, who is a carpenter. The couple were pulled out of the water and given precautionary checks by the emergency services but did not require any further medical treatment. It was the fi rst time in two years that Mr Walker had decided to fish in the spot near Days Lock. The 43-year-old added: “A woman came running up to us and said ‘there’s a lady in the river’ so I went over and had a
By Jack Johnson jack@taylornewspapers.co.uk
look. You just see someone in distress and you don’t think about it and help them out. “All I could see to start with was her arms holding on to the side of the boat and her husband was quite panic-stricken. I was only doing what you expect anyone else to do.” The couple had moored up to have a picnic by the water. However, the woman lost her balance when getting to her feet and fell in to the water between the couples’ boat and the steep river bank. Incident commander Jon Walker from the fi re and rescue service said: “As a service we would like to extend our thanks. We don’t advise people to wade into these situations but human instinct does take over and we would like to commend them. “This outcome could have been far worse but due to the prompt attendance and joint working between all three emergency services and the public a tragedy has been avoided.”
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