This in from Cowes RNLI, in their own words. Ed
A report of a woman in the River Medina sparked an urgent rescue bid by Cowes RNLI lifeboat in the early hours of this morning.
The woman had fallen into the river near the Folly Inn, one and half miles from Cowes, shortly after midnight. At the time she was attempting to reach a boat moored offshore, and had apparently lost her balance while trying to step from the Folly’s wooden jetty into a rubber dinghy.
Partner unable to lift woman
The male partner she was with at the time, held onto her hands but was unable to lift her into the dinghy. When the lifeboat arrived two members jumped into the waist-high water and joined a male member of staff from the Folly to bring the woman on to the beach.
The woman, who by then was suffering from severe hypothermia and semi-conscious, was quickly put into the lifeboat’s ambulance pouch and carried to the inn where she was given a hot drink and a change of dry clothing. Minutes later she was rushed by ambulance to St Mary’s Hospital, Newport.
“It was a very close run thing,” said lifeboat helmsman Simon Hawkins. “She had been in the water for 14 minutes and if it had been another three or four minutes we would have had to resort to artificial respiration.”
