'Distressed' man rescued from River Bann by police

The PSNI has praised the bravery of colleagues who resuced a man from the River Bann overnight.

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Published 21st Sep 2017

The man, who was described as distressed, had entered the water close to the Old Bridge in Coleraine.

The details of the incident were posted on the PSNI North Coast Facebook page:

"Tonight officers from Coleraine Neighbourhood Policing Team responded within 30 seconds of a 999 call from a vigilant member of the public who spotted a distressed man on the wrong side of the Old Bridge in Coleraine.

"Having arrived and found that the man was agitated and upset they attempted to reason and negotiate with him to no avail and sadly he chose to jump into the icy cold water of the River Bann.

"Undeterred by this the officers immediately deployed rescue lines on both sides of the river and with the rapid support of colleagues from C Section Coleraine the officers searched by torch light in an attempt to locate this male in the cold dark waters.

"After repeated attempts to get this male to grab the rescue lines, officers showed incredible bravery by entering the water and wading out to bring this man to the shore and having done so managed to save his life."

The man was taken to the Causeway hospital by ambulance suffering the effects of being in the cold water.

The officers returned to duty after a change of clothes.