Boat left perched on the edge of Whitchurch canal breach rescued in late-night operation
The boat left perched on the edge of the Whitchurch canal breach hole has been pulled to safety, the Canal and River Trust has said.
Pacemaker, the boat that had been left hanging precariously over the precipice of the hole at the centre of the Whitchurch canal collapse, has been pulled to safety.
The Canal and River Trust said the boat had been winched out of danger along the drained canal away from the breach hole at around 10pm on Tuesday.
Pacemaker's owner, Paul Stowe and his family had been left with nothing but the clothes on their backs when they escaped their floating home, barefoot, in the early hours of Monday, December 22.
The boat was one of four in the immediate vicinity of the embankment collapse, with two narrowboats having fallen into into the newly-formed chasm.
The rescue of Pacemaker came after Canal and River Trust were working to install temporary dams nearer to the breach on Tuesday, in order to refloat seven boats that were sat on the drained bed of the canal.
A spokesperson for the trust said: "Canal water has been pumped into the dammed sections and, as of 6am this morning (Wednesday), water levels were starting to recover.
"This means that one of the boats near to the breach site, plus six further up the canal, are now beginning to refloat. They are expected to be fully afloat by later today.
"At about 10pm last night, the team was able to rescue the boat teetering at the edge of the breach hole. This was possible thanks to a specialist winch operation, using a heavy-duty tracked winch measuring approximately 5m by 3m.
"Once in location, the winch was able to haul the boat along the drained canal away from the breach hole. The boat is now safely located next to the lift bridge. In the new year, a dam will be constructed beyond the boat and it also will be refloated."
After the late-night rescue, Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, said: "We are delighted to have been able to recover narrowboat Pacemaker from the edge of the breach overnight.
"Now the initial emergency response, including the concern for boaters’ immediate safety, has passed, our teams have been working hard to refill the Llangollen Canal around the site of the breach.
"This will mean the boats in the immediate area are refloating, and navigation along other affected areas will be restored.
"Alongside this, our engineers are continuing their investigations into why the canal embankment was undermined and will be drawing up plans for its repair.
"We’ll be providing regular updates and assurance to the local and boating community in the weeks ahead. Thankfully, breaches of this scale are relatively rare, but, when they do occur, they’re expensive and complicated to fix."
