A 64-year-old man, with suspected heart problems, was saved from a boat in Hampton by the Teddington RNLI Lifeboat Station.

The man, who was also suffering from breathing difficulties, was successfully evacuated from the boat which was on Platt's Eyott on the River Thames. Teddington RNLI's team were called out around 5:50 am on Tuesday, October 23.

Two D-743 Inshore Lifeboats were launched, with James Kavanagh and crew members Jon Barker, Kay Whittaker and Nic Peters.

Helm James Kavanagh said: "We were tasked to help London Ambulance Service evacuate a gentleman with breathing difficulties from a boat at Platts Eyott. When we arrived, paramedics were already in attendance with the casualty on the boat, but needed the help of our crew to get the casualty across to the road side river bank."

LAS requested the assistance of Teddington RNLI as they determined that the route back over the footbridge to the ambulances from the boat was too difficult given the condition of the casualty.

The casualty was lowered into the lifeboat under the care of Kay Whittaker as RNLI Casualty Care lead along with the lead LAS crew member and ferried safely to the awaiting ambulances. Jon Barker and Nic Peters remained on the casualty vessel to take key details and then re-joined the lifeboat on the other side of the river.

As Kay explained: "This is exactly the type of situation we train for. How to care for and rapidly evacuate casualties. It was very rewarding to be able to help the ambulance service transport the casualty from the boat to the mainland."

James added: "This location is up river of our normal patch, so it took additional time to reach through Molesey Lock. I would like to give special thanks to our Shore Crew, in particular Paul Roach and Graham Jaggers - who are both also Deputy Launching Authorities - who were amazing. Paul and Graham drove to Molesey Lock from our Teddington RNLI Station to operate the Lock both upstream and on return, which saved us invaluable time. We are always happy to assist LAS and other emergency services and wish the gentleman a speedy recovery."