14 DAY TRIAL // A man who was attempting to commit suicide by jumping off the London Bridge saved the life of a complete stranger who was drowning below him.
A rescue vessel from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) was called to a London bridge at around 11 p.m. on Wednesday to attend to the suicidal man.
However, when the lifeboat approached the scene, the crew spotted another man struggling to keep afloat, as he was being weighed down by heavy clothing.
They saved the man in the water who was suffering from hypothermia and was extremely disoriented. Authorities say he was so confused he wasn’t even able to remember his name or other personal information except his age, and couldn’t tell how he ended up in the river Thames.
The 33-year-old man was still in a state of shock after being rescued.
“Although he seemed alert and spoke to the crew, he was apologetic and wasn’t sure who he was or how he came to be in the river,” said Toni Scarr, a member of the RNLI lifeboat crew, as reported by the Independent.
Due to an unusual twist of fate, the lifeboat crew who intervened at the scene managed to save not one, but two men’s lives.
“Chances are if it hadn’t been for the lifeboat crew launching to the original incident – he would never have been spotted and would have drowned,” Scarr added.
After being checked for injuries, the man was transported to Accident & Emergency department because his body temperature plummeted to just above 33 C.
Scarr mentioned that the man's confusion may have also been caused by the hypothermia.
“There were no other boats in the area at the time and I don’t think anyone was actually aware he was in the water,” she said.
The one attempting suicide off the London Bridge has been stopped by police officers and helped back to safety.
The incident was recorded by RNLI as a “life saved,” which applies in situations when a person would most likely have lost their life were it not for the intervention of a lifeboat crew.
The RNLI is a charity that saves lives at sea around the British Isles. It has been funded by charitable donations and has saved at least 140,000 lives at sea since 1824. The crews of the lifeboats are almost entirely volunteers.