A man threatening to throw himself into the Thames inadvertently saved the life of a complete stranger who was drowning in the river below.
Tower RNLI crew said they would never have spotted a person's head in the water but for the callout to London Bridge after reports of someone on its ledge and ready to jump at around 11pm on Wednesday night.
By the time of their arrival police had managed to talk the man down - but the crew spotted someone else on the bridge pointing towards the water below.
It was then that they spotted someone else in the river, desperately struggling to keep his head above the water as he was dragged down by a large duffel coat.
When they pulled the person from the water, the crew found he was hypothermic after his body temperature had plunged to just 33.1C.
Toni Scarr, volunteer lifeboat crew member for Tower RNLI, said: "This incident has been recorded as a life saved as there were no other boats in the area at the time and I don’t think anyone was actually aware he was in the water.
"Chances are if it hadn’t been for the lifeboat crew launching to the original incident – which was resolved by police before we were needed – he would never have been spotted and would have drowned.
"He was incredibly fortunate in that respect," Mr Scarr added. "That first person who was threatening to jump from London Bridge but didn’t probably has no idea that, all things considered, he saved another man’s life."
The RNLI said it was unknown how the person came to be in the water, but he was taken to hospital as an emergency after having been wrapped in blankets and taken to land at Waterloo Bridge by the crew.
He was said to have been alert and apologetic when he was attended to by crews.
