THE skipper of a speedboat involved in a dramatic crash in Southampton Water has been dubbed a hero after risking his own life to rescue one of his fellow crew members.

A member of a lifeboat team called in to rescue the stricken crew has told how the driver could have potentially saved the life of a teenager after going back in to pull him out.

Mark Weatherhead was one of the six volunteers who raced to the scene near the entrance to Hamble Point Marina where the boat had flipped over and was filling with water.

He told how the eight foot long boat was overturned in the water when they arrived but the crew of a large passing 30ft commercial vessel had already rescued the injured crew from the water.

Daily Echo:

Mark (pictured above) said he had spoken with the driver who told him what happened.

"He was driving but had seen something in front of him and took a sharp turn and hit something and then the boat rolled over," said Mr Weatherhead.

"They managed to open the cabin door and three of them got out and onto the work boat but the fourth person wasn't seen so he went back into the boat and pulled the fourth crewmember out.

"It was brave going back into an upturned boat when you have opened the cabin door up to get out.

"There's the potential that it could sink at any time.

"Potentially by doing what he did he saved the fourth crewmember's life.

"Getting out of a vessel is hard enough in itself.

"To go back in and get somebody out - I think he did a fantastic job.

"It was a pretty heroic thing to do. He obviously risked his own life to do it."

He told how a teenager, the most seriously injured, had sustained a head injury and arm injury from the impact.

The other three men on board, two had head injuries and were immobilised and another had a cut to the head.

He said he understood that the boat had been going up and down Southampton Water and that those on board had been testing out the engine of a new boat, though he did not know if they were a professional racing crew.

He said eyewitnesses that reported the incident had estimated that the boat was going roughly 80 miles an hour.