The Thames river as it flows through Harris Park in London, Ont. (MORRIS LAMONT/QMI AGENCY files)
LONDON, Ont. — A quick-thinking teenager is being credited with saving the life of a wheelchair-bound man who was stuck in the swollen Thames River on Tuesday.
Rescue crews responded just after 4 p.m., but they weren’t given the correct location.
Firefighters say the man had been trying to feed the ducks on the banks of the river when his wheelchair slid into the cold water.
He was submerged above his seat.
A 15-year-old boy saw the man in the river and ran from his house to help him.
The teen waded into the water and pulled the wheelchair to dry land and eventually was able to get it back up to street level.
“The London Police Department and London Fire Department water rescue crews highly commend the actions of this young teen who rescued this man from a possible life-threatening situation,” the fire department wrote in a statement.
The man refused any medical assistance and police took him home.
Source: Teen pulls man in wheelchair from river | Peterborough Examiner
