CANAL LOCK SENSATION

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1933, Page 12

CANAL LOCK SENSATION

FIGHT TO SAVE FOUR LIVES. Dramatic scenes accompanied the rescue of two women from a canal at Widcombe, Bath, on June 12. Two men who plunged in after them were in grave peril also. The women, Mrs. Eames, aged 60, and her daughter, aged 24, fell about 20ft into a lock which contained five or six feet of water. Constable Thomas jumped after them, but landed in deep mud. He struggled to the women, who were clinging to each other, and held them up. Help came from Mr. W. Hancock, a Bath and Somerset Rugby football threequarter, who dived in and took the elder woman from the constable. Both women by this time had collapsed. Then one of the crowd on the lockside procured a long pole with a hook at the end and hooked Miss Eames’ dress. With the help of others he began to haul the girl, up, but the dress gave way several times. Next a lifebuoy was thrown and the policemen managed to put it round the unconscious girl’s neck and his own. The hook was fixed into the lifebuoy cord and the crowd slowly hauled the pair out. •> Both women were rushed to hospital in a serious condition. Constable Thomas was given oxygen and returned to duty later in the day. Mr. Hancock walked home.