WATCH: '˜These three were truly godsends...'

Now the three people who came to his aid in the River Alver, Gosport, have come forward.

Michael has now been able to thank Toby Adams, Satch Doyle and Tom Griffin.

Michael, 67, said: ‘I want to thank these three for helping me out because they truly are godsends as at the end of the day I was a bit worried.

‘I went down a little track and got halfway down before I fell.

‘I was up to my chest in the water. I was panicking trying to pull myself up.’

Tom, 21, a bartender, was the first one to spot Michael.

He said: ‘I was cycling to work at the Seahorse, down the track next to the river and found an upturned mobility scooter with Michael stuck in the river.’

Toby, 26 and Satch, 30, were also cycling down the path when they spotted an abandoned bike.

Toby said: ‘Me and Satch were coming back from Stokes Bay and saw a bike on the path and there was Tom trying to get the mobility scooter off of Michael.’

The trio pulled the mobility scooter off Michael before calling the fire service.

Satch said: ‘It was very heavy. It took all three of us to get that off and it was a struggle.’

The incident, which happened on July 6, required an ambulance, two PCSOs and paramedics.

They all attended the scene along with firefighters from Gosport.

Tom said: ‘They didn’t believe me at work as to why I was late.’

Toby added: ‘You just hope in the same circumstances, someone would do it for you.’

A spokesperson from Gosport Fire Station previously said: ‘We were called at 17.21 to Gomer Lane in Gosport. An elderly man had fallen into the river and was trapped in the mud.

‘He was rescued by firefighters using ladders and passed into care of the ambulance service.’