At 20.00 on 22nd July
Crew were called to a person in the water at the London Eye and we arrived on scene to find that the man was in the river under the pontoon close to the river wall. Some excellent helming got the boat inside the booms, and we collapsed the radar and aerials down and just managed to fit under the brow.
The man refused to take a line from a throw bag and was repeatedly attempting to go down under the water. The lifeboat got in in as close as possible and we were able to grab part of the man’s clothing and pull him towards the boat. The crew recovered him into the boat and took him back to Lifeboat Pier. This job was a life saved as the man had refused all help, was only just afloat when we arrived and no other vessel in the area would have been able to get into the position the crew put the lifeboat in.