A MAN risked his own life to jump into Southampton Water to save another after a tug boat capsized last night.

The tug went down near Fawley Refinery in windy conditions last night and a dramatic rescue mission was launched to find the two men on board.

And while one man was picked from the water, another was trapped in the wheelhouse of the stricken vessel.

Seeing his colleague trapped inside, an employee of Solent Towage jumped onto the boat, smashed the window and dragged his colleague out and into the water.

They were then rescued by an RNLI lifeboat crew.

Local RNLI and Coastguard teams were told of the incident at just after 8.10pm last night.

A variety of vessels, including the Calshot RNLI lifeboat Max Walls, Solent Coastguard vessels, the Southampton Port patrol boat and Red Funnel ferries, rushed to the scene to help with the search.

Paramedics and fire crews were also called to the scene near the refinery.

One of the tug's crew had been on its deck and was able to jump into the water, but the rescue operation intensified after the second man could not be found.

After his colleague jumped onto the vessel to save him, three RNLI crew members went ashore with the second crew member to give him casualty care.

He was then taken to Southampton General Hospital.

A spokesman for ExxonMobil, which runs the refinery, said: "We can confirm that at approximately 20:10 hours on Monday 30th March, our onsite resources together with the emergency services, responded to an incident involving a small shipping support vessel in Southampton Water.

"All persons have been accounted for. 

"There was no impact to the local community.  Refinery operations continue as normal."