England

River rescue soldier 'a hero'

A soldier who jumped in a river to save a drowning woman has described how he kept her afloat for 15 minutes.

Private Andrew Simpson, based at Catterick Garrison, was one of two men who rushed to the aid of the woman after she fell into deep water and became tangled in floating branches in the River Severn in Shropshire.

The 22 year old, who serves with the Mercian Regiment, says he waded-in up to his shoulders to reach the semi conscious woman, who was about 10ft from the river bank.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it would be writing to the soldier's commanding officer and to the second man in recognition of their efforts "to help a member of the public in extremely difficult and dangerous conditions".

The ambulance service was called to reports of a woman in her 50’s being in the river at around 9.20pm on 27th December.
Private Andrew Simpson told the Shropshire Star newspaper: “I had just popped to a friend’s house in Washbrook Road and came running down to see what was happening.

“An older man was holding on to the lady but was losing his grasp so I jumped in. She was not really conscious at the time – her eyes were flickering but she was not saying anything.

“I just thought I had to help and dived straight in. It was too deep to stand so I grabbed hold of a branch and managed to hold on

A spokesman for the service said: "A 56-year-old man initially went into the water to try and help.

"He was joined shortly afterwards by a 22-year-old-soldier who was walking home at the time.

"It is not known how long the pair were in the water for.

"The soldier went into the water up to his shoulders and held the woman afloat until firefighters were able to bring them both to the shore."

The other rescuer was helped out of the water by his wife.

The woman was suffering from the effects of hypothermia and was semi-conscious.

She was assessed at the scene before being taken to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford for further treatment. The second man was also uninjured, the West Midlands Ambulance spokesman said.