A WITNESS has described the dramatic attempts to rescue a man who plunged 15ft into a Hampshire river.

The woman, who the Daily Echo is not naming, was walking home from Totton railway station near Rushington roundabout when she saw the man had fallen into the water.

She told the Daily Echo how a man in front of her noticed the motionless body lying in shallow water and mud of Bartley Water by the Rum Bridge completely by chance as he walked past last night.

The woman said: “I was just behind him and it was pure chance that this guy saw him lying there as he wasn't making any sound or moving.”

She said the man rang 999 and then tried to find some blankets as a crowd began to gather.

She added: “He was completely motionless at first, lying on his back but then he started to move a little, he was not making any sense though when he did try to speak.”

The witness said that she estimated he must have fallen around 15ft to the river bank below.

“There was no sign he had climbed down, it appeared he had just fallen and was laid where he landed.,” she added.

Two men waded into the water to try and hold his head out and stop him drowning. The witness said that the fire service was then called as the man needed specialist help to get him out of the muddy area in which he was lying.

Emergency services have confirmed that they were called to the scene at Bartley Water near the Rushington roundabout shortly after 8pm.

The man, who is thought to be in his 30s, was eventually taken to Southampton General Hospital by a South Central Ambulance Service crew.

A spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said officers had been responding to a “concern for welfare call” and added that the man did not suffer life threatening injuries in the fall.

Daily Echo:

Emergency services at the scene last night.