Off duty Wiltshire Air Ambulance paramedic helps rescue man in river (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Off duty Wiltshire Air Ambulance paramedic helps rescue man in river

4:50pm Wednesday 3rd March 2010 in News By Jill Crooks

OFF duty Wiltshire Air Ambulance paramedic Steve Riddle helped to resuce a man who had fallen into the River Avon in Bath this afternoon.

Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) received the first 999 call reporting the incident at 2.45pm. An ambulance and an officer were sent to the scene at North Parade, arriving just three minutes later.

Mr Riddle, who was off duty, happened to be passing when he spotted the man in the water. He threw a life-ring for the man to grab hold of and by the time the ambulance officer and crew arrived the man had managed to climb onto a near-by boat.

Ambulance officer Mark Harwood said: “The ambulance staff worked really well with the police who also arrived at the scene very quickly. The man was very lucky as the temperature of the water is very cold and it doesn’t take long for hypothermia to kick in.

“We were able to assess the man and the ambulance crew then took him to the Royal United Hospital for further checks and to be warmed up.”