Colchester Hythe rescue sees man save child from drowning

Emergency services rushed to King Edward Quay in the Hythe after reports came in of a young boy who had started to struggle in the water.

Prior to their arrival, however, passers-by tried despserately to coax the youngster out of the water, throwing him floats and rope to grab hold of.

Jove Larenty, who has a boat on the Quay, then jumped into the water to rescue the boy, who he says was “about eight years old”.

Speaking to the Gazette, the 58-year-old said: "The guy who first saw him had been on the rescue longer than me but they couldn’t get him out.

“I turned up halfway through and saw his head go under a couple of times.

“The water is brown, so his face disappeared, and I just thought I don’t want that in my memory and I’m not going to stand here and watch this kid a drown.

“I got him in the recovery position, he fought it a bit, but I got him as far as I could to the edge.

“He had already been in the water for about 40 minutes. He would have died."

Hero - Jove Larenty jumped in to help rescue the boy (Image: Public)

After being saved, the young boy was left in the care of the East of England Ambulance Service, which sent an ambulance and three rapid response vehicles to the scene.

He was then taken to Colchester Hospital.

“There were loads of people trying to help, all the boaters of King Edward Quay were trying to save him and it was a team effort," added Mr Larenty.

“We now want to do something to help him and make sure he was alright.”

According to Mr Larenty, the emergency services arrived at the scene roughly five minutes after he had managed to get the boy out of the water.

A spokesman for the Essex Fire and Rescue Service said: “On arrival, crews confirmed it was one casualty in the water.

“They were rescued by 4.50pm and left in the care of the Ambulance Service."