A FATHER and son who were being swept to their death in a freezing Kentish Swale have been rescued by in dramatic circumstances.
The pair were fishing from a floating pontoon jetty at Queenborough in Kent when the boy fell into the river.
His father (40) jumped in to save him and both were swept by the tide out into the river where they managed to grab one of the vacant buoys used for yacht moorings.
Their terrified screams were heard by passer-by, who called Thames Coastguard. They in turn alerted Sheerness lifeboat who transferred the pair to a helicopter across Sea Reach in the Thames to Southend-on-Sea general hospital to be treated for possible hypothermia.