Members of the Inverness Angling Club plucked a man in distress from the icy waters of the River Ness
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00:00 So if you just tell me what happened here in the river nest.
00:03 Yeah well we're all anglers and we were having a coffee at the local Isle Hutt.
00:09 I think two or three of us saw this figure coming floating down the river just at the
00:17 top of the artwork there with her hands and legs sort of waving about.
00:24 I think we all thought it was a wild swimmer but then as it got closer, I ran down and
00:33 we started shouting and bawling, no response.
00:36 Then we took action, Jane went into the water, I went in and we pulled him onto the bank.
00:42 Davey gave us a hand and pulled him right into the water.
00:45 And then from there on by good luck there was two nurses walking along, they came on
00:51 the scene and he didn't appear to be breathing when I took him out.
00:56 I'm ex-ambulance service myself.
00:59 But he had a pulse and they tried to rouse him.
01:06 He had a very, very thick jumper on him but he had a pulse and he didn't appear to be
01:12 breathing and after a minute or two, got him on his back and started to do it.
01:20 I checked.
01:23 You mentioned that you were quite lucky the way the man was taken because you were able
01:30 to pull him out.
01:31 He was too far out.
01:33 This particular pool was out on Quettus and then it was into five or six feet of water
01:40 and good luck from my point of view was that he was coming down just at the edge of that
01:46 self and I could get in without totally immersing myself and I got a hold of his shoulder and
01:52 the guys came down and gave a hand to get him out.
01:55 And then the nurses of course as you said.
01:57 There was a nurse that appeared and a doctor from the casualty ward were passing by and
02:02 they came down and gave us a hand.
02:04 But then we had a response out of him after a while.
02:08 He was responding to voice.
02:11 When you asked them can you hold a grip of the hand or something, you would grip your
02:16 hand and he seemed to be getting very, very cold at this time.
02:20 So the guys all took off their jackets and covered him with their jackets and then the
02:27 medical ambulance arrived and we handed him over to them.
02:31 You would have been very lucky that you were here given the temperature of the water at
02:34 this time of year.
02:35 I'm lucky to do it and it's all saying that's it for today.
02:39 Yeah, we'd have been away if it were five minutes later.
02:42 Oh, he'd have been gone.
02:43 How long he was in the water, whether he went in or nothing.
02:46 It's a very busy area this, with people walking up and down the islands and back to the city
02:52 centre.
02:53 No one's come in and about saying, oh we saw someone going into the river, so it looks
02:59 as though whatever happened wasn't witnessed.
03:02 But it's amazing how people never noticed him actually going in.
03:07 He was lucky, thanks to you all.
03:09 Absolutely.
03:10 There was a few people going around, but it was quite busy along there and no one seemed
03:14 to have gone.
03:15 I quite often see things, people swimming in the river and you're like, oh look at that
03:19 fool in the river.
03:20 But he wasn't a fool, it was a genuine.
03:23 So we're all hoping that he gets through this and makes a full recovery.
03:28 Mm-hmm.