Two dramatic weekend rescues by Waterloo’s RNLI lifeboats

A crew was called into action at 4.55am on Saturday morning following a report of a man spotted in the water near Waterloo Bridge.

Lifeboat helmsman Steve King said: "As the lifeboat turned to face downstream a crew member spotted a person in the water who was starting to go under the surface."

The crew made a grab at his location where bubbles could be seen and managed to grab his arm.

The rescue has been classified as a 'life saved'. This is an RNLI criteria which applies when a person would surely have died if it weren't for the intervention of the lifeboat crew.

Twelve hours later a person was reported in the water by the London Eye.

When the RNLI crew arrived a man was seen standing on the mooring cable of a boom at the base of the London Eye. He was clinging on tightly unable to move from his position.

Two crew members jumped from the lifeboat onto the moving boom and managed to get the man into the boat.

"I was incredibly proud of our volunteer crew member Helen Church who bravely put the need of the casualty first when she jumped to his aid," said full-time crew member Keith Cima.

"Her actions exemplified the selflessness of RNLI volunteers in order to save others."