'Screaming' teenager who was swept far out to sea saved in Portsmouth Harbour after alarm sounded

A boy got into difficulties just outside the harbour near the Round Tower before he was plucked to safety as the city sweltered in 30C heat.

The swimmer was saved by a passing fishing vessel and handed over to a police rigid inflatable boat (rib) and taken to land.

An emergency message from the Queen’s Harbour Master had been sent out to all vessels in the harbour around 6.45pm on Monday evening to look for the boy.

Crew and passengers on a passing Wightlink ferry from Fishbourne to Portsmouth heard the stricken teenager’s desperate shouts before sounding the alarm.

‘Captain Dave Booker and the crew of Victoria of Wight were quick to react following reports of a teenager in trouble,’ a spokeswoman for Wightlink said.

‘Shortly after hearing the emergency message from the Queen’s Harbour Master, they spotted the young man in the water near the ferry.

‘Captain Booker stopped the ship and sounded the horn, alerting nearby vessels including the police launch and a fishing boat.

‘The young man was recovered safely.’

Nina Wheeler, 40, was preparing to go back to her car on the ferry with her husband and children when she heard the boy.

‘All the passengers had been sent back to their cars but myself and some crew spotted a young man in the water. He was screaming “help me” as clear as day,’ she said.

‘The ferry sounded its alarm and called for help. A small fishing boat came speeding over and spotted the young man. They pulled him out of the water before handing him over to a police boat.

‘He was then taken to Camber Docks where an ambulance was waiting.’

She added: ‘The lad was very lucky. He was a long way from shore - about 200 metres. He had some voice on him for us to hear him from the top deck of the ferry.

‘The sea is so dangerous there, you could see the currents changing and were very powerful even though the weather was nice.’

Martin Bates, 61, of Emsworth, was on a rib with his brother-in-law Peter Yeates coming back from the Isle of Wight when they heard a young man was in trouble on the radio.

He said: ‘We were looking around for him when we saw the ferry stop. The fishing boat then came over and pulled him out before meeting with the police boat and doing a handover.

‘When we got back the Harbour Master said he was fine. He looked fine from what I could see.

‘It happened near the Hot Walls but was quite a distance out. He had obviously drifted after getting caught in the tide - it was choppy. He definitely needed rescuing.

‘It’s good there was a happy ending especially when you hear of tragedies in the hot weather.

‘Well done to the fishermen who got him.’

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A spokeswoman from Solent Coastguard said 23 emergency calls were received with the boy rescued by the time lifeboats got to the incident.

‘It was a really quick, swift job, and a good and successful recovery,’ she said.

Call 999 and ask for the coastguard to report anyone in difficulties.