IC Newcastle
Local News
Lifeguard from Canada is hero of river drama Oct 19 2001
By Sam Wonfor, The Journal
A Canadian yachtsman was hailed a hero last night after he rescued a man who fell from the Tyne Bridge and the police officer who dived in to save him.
The drama unfolded just after 8.30pm when police received reports of a man jumping into the river and being swept towards Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
PC Gordon Stewart dived in to rescue the 45-year-old man, who is from the Dunston area of Gateshead.
But the current was too strong for the officer, who was unable to reach the man and himself became stranded in the water, clinging to a concrete pontoons near the new bridge.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old Matthew Debicki, a lifeguard from Winnipeg in Canada who has a yacht docked on the Tyne, noticed a police helicopter hovering above the bridge and spotted the man in the river.
He said: "We looked up at the helicopter and then we saw a head bobbing up and down in the water.
"I grabbed a life ring and dived in to try and save him, but once I got into the river, I knew the current was too strong for me to swim out to him.
"The police threw down a couple of life rings on rope.
"I got as near as I could to him and managed to reach out to the man and pull him towards me.
"Then the police hauled us both out."
But that wasn't the end to Mr Debicki's bravery.
He said: "The police told me one of their officers was still stranded in the river. So we got out our motorised dinghy and me and another officer went out to save him.
"We pulled him in to the dinghy and brought him back to the boat. He seemed quite happy and wasn't panicking."
A police spokesman said: "Both PC Stewart and the man were recovered from the river safe and well."
PC Stewart and the man who fell into the river, who has not been named, were taken to Newcastle General Hospital to be checked over. PC Stewart was released within a few hours, but the other man was still undergoing checks last night.
Mr Debicki is on a fundraising tour of the UK with his fellow yachtsmen to muster sponsorship for a round-world trip in their yacht, Inventure - the first of its kind because one of the crew members is quadriplegic.
He was keen to play down his involvement in last night's drama, saying, "I didn't really think, I just jumped in - it wasn't anything really." But a police spokesman said: "Don't listen to him, he is just being modest - he was definitely the hero of the hour and we're very grateful to him for what he did."