Shrewsbury river rescue 'hero' tells of lifesaving chance encounter
Two young men who were walking home from a night out have been praised for their 'heroic' actions in rescuing a man from the river in Shrewsbury.
One of the lads, Louis King, from Meole, says they were only in the area in The Quarry, opposite The Boathouse pub, by chance when they heard a voice screaming for help.
Louis, aged 18, who keeps himself fit by going to the gym, took a rescue ring out and threw it to the man who was in the middle of the river. He was with his friend Ben Morris from Battlefield and Ben and Louis hauled the man to the riverbank.
"We were opposite The Boathouse and heard someone screaming out," said Louis. "So we ran to the area and he was in the middle of the water. Another bloke who was there was going into the water but it was too cold.
"The man in the river was losing it and panicking and he went under the water. I threw the ring out to him, and he caught it. We pulled him to the bank and he said thank you."
Louis and Ben have been praised for their actions by West Mercia Search and Rescue who did not need to be called out. The man was pulled out of the water by the time the paramedics arrived, and taken to hospital. He is understood to be out of the hospital now.
The lads were both walking in the Quarry after a night out at Montgomery's Tower Wetherspoon and the Nags Head pub. They had been planning to go to Fever night club, and if they had they wouldn't have been anywhere near the man at 1.30am on Sunday.
"I can't tell you how weird it was," said Louis, who is a painter and decorator. "We were standing in the queue at Fever and Ben goes 'no, I don't want to do this'. I said I didn't either and we both decided to go home, so it was completely by chance we were there - he would have been a goner."
He added: "We had been out for a drink and were enjoying a laugh when it happened so quickly. But we worked together to pull him out.
"I never expected anything like this and nothing like this has ever happened to me before," said Louis, who is fit from boxing training. Ben is a groundworker who is this week working in Nottingham.
Louis added: "We were just happy to get him out."
