A MAN was saved from drowning in the Thames. The man, in his thirties, was seen floating motionless on his back close to the Procter and Gamble factory, near Lakeside shopping centre.

Dave Webb, 47, who was fishing in the area, made the discovery on Friday.

He said: “I was chatting to a man who was cutting the grass and a photographer who was taking pictures of murals along the sea wall, when the grass cutter shouted ‘there’s a body in the water!’.

“I began to shout and the man looked up, but he didn’t say anything. He was floating on his back and looked in a daze.

“I went to take my boots off to go in, but one of the other men said don’t go in because of the strong current.”

Police and the coastguard were called and a sea rescue team arrived within minutes and fished the man out of the water.

In the meantime, Mr Webb and the other men kept him talking.

Mr Webb of Eden Green, South Ockendon, made the grim discovery of the body of Adunayo Shittu, 18, from Grays, who drowned after swimming at Grays Beach in July.

He added: “The police and coastguards said what a good job we had done in calling them and talking to the man and that we helped to save his life.

“It seems every time I go fishing these days something happens.”

Coastguard manager Steve Carson said: “The Gravesend RNLI were on the scene within ten minutes and pulled the man out of the water just as he was going under.

After receiving first aid he was taken to Darent Valley Hospital, Kent, where he was assessed by doctors.