Pike Anglers to the Rescue

Elderly woman rescued by pike anglers

The woman was aboard a cruiser which was mooring up at Wood’s End, near Bramerton, on Saturday, when she lost her footing.

Piker Ian Squirrell, from Diss, was fishing off the bank and the boat went through his lines and snapped him off, before the woman fell in nearby.

“She just went in and totally disappeared for 10 seconds, then she popped up right under the back of the boat,” he said.

“I grabbed her arm, but I couldn’t pull her up. All I could do was hold her, then my mate came along and we managed to pull her up the bank.”

The tide was running off hard and dredging and piling work on the river means the margins are 12ft deep where the woman, believed to be in her sixties, went in.

Ian lent the woman a change of clothes he had in his van and she recovered after a cup of tea and a tot of whisky.

“She ended up in some clothes I had in the back of the van – tracksuit bottoms and camo,” said Ian.

“They took my address and said they’d wash them and post them back to me – I said good luck if you can get them clean…”