A couple had to be saved from their boat after the pony they were trying to rescue caused it to sink. Emergency services were deployed from across Cornwall to attend the dramatic rescue operation in the River Fal.
The boat owners, a man and a woman in their early 50s, were staying at St Just in Roseland on holiday. They were on a boat trip up river near Philleigh when they spotted a scared pony, stranded on a bank.
The fire brigade was called to rescue the animal but before they arrived the couple tried to coax it on to their boat. Falmouth firefighter Frank Gendall said: "They transported it across the river but as soon as it saw the shore it bolted and as it leaped from the boat, punched two holes in the bottom. The boat began to sink. The three of them were then stranded on this ledge which is when we arrived."
"We used ropes to bind the pony to the lifeboat and took it back across the river to safety - but it was so weak we didn't think it was going to make it," he said. "The couple boarded a nearby friend's yacht and were taken back to St Just in Roseland - they were fit and healthy but a bit wet."
"We gave the pony oxygen on the other bank and he seemed to feel better. The vet arrived and sedated him before it was taken to a nearby farm. If it wasn't for that very caring couple, who were more worried about the pony's safety than themselves, it would have drowned.
"But I would not recommend to anyone that they attempt to rescue a pony in a nine-foot boat."
No comments:
Post a Comment