Drifting canoe sparks Shrewsbury river alert
Thursday 22nd July 2010, 3:36PM BST.
A huge search of the River Severn was launched in Shrewsbury after reports that a person’s feet were seen sticking out of an upturned canoe floating on the water.
The Canadian canoe was retrieved near the Pengwern Boat Club following the call at about 3.15pm yesterday before it was discovered the boat had become dislodged by rising river levels from the back of a home in Frankwell.
Richard Ewels, spokesman for West Mercia Police, said: “We had a report from a member of the public who had seen an overturned canoe floating down the river by Frankwell footbridge.
“The owners were traced to a property in Frankwell just before 7pm last night. The boat had been unsecured from the back of the address by rising water levels due to the high levels of rainfall.”
Two fire engines from Shrewsbury, a rescue boat and the rescue tender from Wellington attended along with an ambulance and a hazardous area response team.
Andrew Armstrong, Shropshire Fire and Rescue incident commander, said a search was carried out from Greyfriars Bridge to the West Midlands Showground but it was called off at 4.30pm after nothing was found.
He said: “We received a call from a member of the public who had seen an upturned canoe with some feet sticking out .
“We sent fire appliances to the river near the Quarry and Greyfriars Bridge and we launched the rescue boat from Frankwell. We conducted a full river and river bank search which took an hour-and-a-half.”
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