'Clinging on for dear life': Shrewsbury river rescue hero tells how he dived in to save man

Will Mowbray’s lifesaving effort was the second time in a month he has pulled someone from the river.

The 21-year-old biochemistry student spoke of the drama as concerns continue about river safety along the Severn in Shrewsbury.

The man he rescued is now stable in hospital, but another man, 31-year-old Toby Jones, died after falling in earlier this month. And the search continues for 21-year-old Nathan Fleetwood, who is missing after last being seen near Kingsland Bridge.

Will was walking his girlfriend, Molly Marr, home from work in the early hours of last Monday. As they made their way over the English Bridge, they heard cries for help from the river.

"We both heard the first cry at the same time," said Will.

"We looked at each other, heard it again and knew it was something really urgent."

The couple initially ran towards the Shrewsbury College campus side of the bridge to get a better vantage point, before realising the cry was coming from the opposite side at St Julian's Place.

"He was on his own in the water," Will added. "We couldn't see him at first."

Eventually they spotted the man around half way between the English Bridge and Greyfriar's Bridge, clinging to a boat chain at the side of the river.

"He was fully in the water, trying to push himself out but couldn't quite do it," Will said.

"I started reaching down. I was holding my hand out to him but it was really hard to reach. He was just trying to grasp onto my fingers.

"Then a guy came out of his house to see what the commotion was. He came and held onto my ankles while I was trying to reach down so I could get closer."

While this was going on, Molly, also 21, was calling the emergency services from the riverside to try to get help.

"It was the first time I've ever phoned 999," said Mollie, a musical theatre student and mixologist at Ten & Six in Mardol.

"I had lots of thoughts going through my head. I was trying to answer questions and tell them what he looked like. I was concerned for his safety as well as my boyfriend's."

Will tried his best to pull the man out from the riverbank, but couldn't manage it, and every time they lost grip, the man slipped further back into the freezing water.

"He had been in the water for a while and didn't have any strength left," said Will.

"We tried but it was a fool's game trying to pull him out."

At that point, someone arrived with a ladder. It was placed into the water for the man in the river to try to climb out. But Will noticed that it needed repositioning in the water for the man to have any chance of getting out.

Will tried to do it while holding onto someone who was also involved in the rescue attempt, but realised he would need to get in the water to do what he needed to do.

"I told him to let go of my hand. He said: 'I'm not letting go'. I told him to trust me. So I went into the water with a big splash.

"I moved the ladder but when I put my weight on it just sank into the river sludge. The only thing it was good for was having something to hold onto."

The focus for Will then became to keep the man's head above water until the emergency services arrived to help get them out.

"He was just holding on for dear life," Will said.

Emergency crews arrived on the scene, and a life jacket was thrown to the man, but he couldn't get it on, lost his grip and it floated down the river.

Police had their own ladder to help the men out of the water but, while Will waited in the water, the man he was trying to rescue passed out while climbing the ladder. That meant a lifeboat had to come to the rescue.

The man Will helped rescue was unresponsive at the scene after he was pulled from the water, so he was rushed to hospital. Will was treated by medics at the scene, but they were concerned that his body temperature wasn't increasing, so he was taken to hospital too.

"My heat wasn't stabilising and I had about a million blankets round me so they took me to A&E and put me on an IV drip," he said.

Will spent a night in hospital recovering.

"So many people came into the ward to shake my hand and tell me I'm a hero, which was really nice of them," he said. "I wasn't expecting that at all.

"A lot of his family have been in contact. One said 'I think you're the guy who save my brother's life'. Doctors said he would have died if you hadn't been there. He is loved by everyone and we'd have lost him if it wasn't for you.'"

The next morning Will and Molly returned home. The couple, who are both students at University Centre Shrewsbury, tried to process what had happened.

"We had a bit of a moment when we got home the next morning," said Will.

"We sat down and we didn't know what to think. I didn't know how to comprehend what had happened. But it gets easier when you've got your friends and family and girlfriend calling you a hero.

"That's a massive ego boost," he joked.

Molly said: "I'm just immensely proud. I had people calming me down because I was a blubbering mess."

"You were saying 'Don't you ever do that again!'" Will replied.

It was the second time in a month Will has pulled someone from the river. On the previous occasion, he was in town about to meet friends when he witnessed a man who was struggling with his mental health throw himself off the Welsh Bridge.

As his friends watched on, Will dashed down to the riverbank on the Frankwell side of the bridge and urged the man to try to reach the side. Thankfully Will and another man were able to pull him out from the riverside and look after him before medics arrived.

"My friends were traumatised by seeing that and so was I. When I saw him jump my heart just stopped. I just hope he's alright now."

"I'm just glad we were there at the right time."

Shrewsbury police inspector Saf Ali described Will's actions as "amazing".

He said: "Obviously we don't want people to put themselves at risk, but he did and what he did was amazing. We will be doing something formally in recognition of his efforts."

A petition for more CCTV along the river in Shrewsbury has gathered more than 3,500 signatures, and the group Make Our Rivers Safer is planning a peaceful protest and meetings with key figures on boosting safety.

Meanwhile a widow whose husband died after falling into the river in Frankwell, in Shrewsbury, in 2017, has urged Salopians to take care near the water.

Kirsty Walsh, an ambassador for West Mercia Search and Rescue, has been campaigning and giving talks on river safety.