What can happen in 10 minutes? For coastal lifeboat stations, that can be the time needed for dedicated volunteers to drop whatever they’re doing, form a crew and launch. For those at Tower Lifeboat Station, it’s a different story

On this busy stretch of the Thames in central London, moored and moving hazards, strong currents and an average Winter water temperature of around 5°C give people in the water just seconds to survive.

‘We’re more like lifeguards in that respect,’ says Kevin Maynard, Station Manager at Tower. ‘An incident happens and it’s all over within minutes.’ That was certainly the case at 1.32am on a cold March morning. Kevin and Helmsman Stuart Morrison were on the nightshift, enjoying some downtime but listening out for the phone. Volunteer David Taylor – who had a day’s work ahead of him – got some rest in the bunkroom.

A call came: there was a person in the water at Temple Pier, metres downriver from Tower’s floating lifeboat station at Waterloo Bridge. That person would be fighting against at least 3 knots (3.45mph) of river current and ebbing tide.

Rushing out onto the pier to launch, the crew saw lights flashing from the Embankment as onlookers shone their mobile phones to illuminate the scene.

‘As we approached in the lifeboat, we realised there were three people in the water,’ Kevin remembers. ‘They were hanging by their fingertips onto a little section of wall as the tide dragged them along.’

A Spanish student had fallen from a wall into the Thames and was unable to swim. His friend had tried to help, but was overwhelmed by the current. Hearing their cries over the noise of a busy road, barman Ruben Cortecero had raced across and jumped in to help the pair stay afloat (see below, right).

‘Ruben was calm, but the two students were screaming, terrified,’ continues Kevin. ‘As we approached, one of them lost his grip and tried to cling onto the other, dragging him from the wall and pushing him under the water. Suddenly it was a whole lot more serious.’

Stuart held the lifeboat steady, then went to help Kevin haul the first man in. ‘He was just lying there motionless – he was so cold, he’d gone beyond shivering,’ Kevin says. ‘It wasn’t graceful, pulling them onto the boat, but with that tide running we just had to get them in.’ Meanwhile David had been able to recover the other student at the stern of the boat. Kevin then helped Ruben to heave himself out of the water, and within minutes the group were at the lifeboat station and in the care of London Ambulance Service. ‘We sorted out the boat, finally sat down and thought, “Wow, how lucky were they?”’ reflects Kevin. ‘The pair that were dragged from the wall wouldn’t have got back. If we’d been any later, the tide would probably have pulled them under barges nearby. It’s a shocking thought.

‘Three lives were saved that night and Ruben did an incredibly brave thing – but it also shows the real danger of entering the water to help. It’s best to check your instincts, dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard.’

Watch footage of the rescue at RNLI.org/TowerThree. Read more about our safety scheme for riverside bars on page 18.

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‘Keep calm, we will be okay’
RUBEN CORTECERO | BARMAN

Ruben, pictured being helped out of the water above, right, says: ‘I heard people shouting “ayuda, ayuda [help, help]”. Immediately I went to try to rescue them out of the water. I tried to take their hands but it was too wet and they were too heavy.

‘[Once in the water] I tried to keep calm. I told them that police were coming and that everything was going to be okay. I tried to keep them close to the wall. At one point one of them moved away from the wall. In trying to get him back I put my head into the water and drank a lot of the water, but I got him back. The whole time I was thinking, “keep calm, we will be okay”.’

As told to Anna Dubuis at the London Evening Standard.