Brothers save man from canal at Wilcot
4:15pm Tuesday 24th February 2009 in News By Nigel Kerton
Two brothers have told how they saved a man from drowning after he fell into the Kennet and Avon Canal at Wilcot on Monday afternoon.
Duane and Jason Black pulled the man from the canal after he had been in the water they believed for about four minutes.
He was still conscious and was able to understand their shouts to move nearer the bank so that they could reach him and pull him out.
Duane Black, 41, a mechanic, was visiting his brother who lives on a narrow boat at Wilcot and was carrying out some repairs when he noticed a man a couple of hundred yards away acting strangely.
He said: “Jason has his boat on the canal between Wilcot and Pewsey and I went down there about ten o’clock in the morning and noticed this bloke staggering about.
“I went off for a couple of hours but when I got back he was still there acting as if he was drunk.
“I thought I’d better keep an eye on him for a while.
“He had walked up to the road but then he walked unsteadily back down to the canal and I could see that he’d had a drink.
“I saw him fall over on the grass and when we went up to him he said he was OK so we continued to keep an eye on him.”
Duane Black said: “I was in the board doing something and when I came out I could see he had gone in the water.”
The brothers ran along the canal and Duane Black said he reckoned the man had been in the water for about three-four minutes.
“Jason talked to him and managed to make him understand that he had to get closer to the edge or we would have had to go in after him.
“When he got nearer the bank we dragged him out and I got on the phone and dialled 999 for an ambulance.”
Duane Black said the ambulance control maintained contact while he and his brother got a duvet to wrap the man in.
“His lips had gone blue and he was lapsing in and out of consciousness and we kept talking to him until the ambulance arrived about 15 minutes later.”
John Oliver, spokesman for Great Western Ambulance, said a rapid response vehicle with an emergency care practitioner -- a paramedic with enhanced skills -- on board was sent to Wilcot..
Mr Oliver said: “We received a 999 call from a person and he stayed on the line throughout.”
The rescued man was taken to Salisbury District Hospital.
