I
Ian Cloke
Guest
A MAN who sank neck deep in mud yesterday would have drowned if a passer-by hadn't heard his desperate screams.
The fisherman initially got his legs stuck in the mud at Fareham Creek, but as he struggled to get free, he sank in further.
Soon the mud was up to his neck and all the terrified man could do was scream for help ? while all the time the incoming tide edged closer to him.
Luckily a member of the public heard his shouts and dialled 999.
Coastguards rushed to the scene and raced against time to free the 38-year-old Portchester man, who has not been named.
For one-and-a-half hours a team of five coastguards used winches and a stretcher-like device to dredge the man up from the thick mud.
They wore special wide footwear to walk on the soft mud so they didn't sink as well.
A coastguard spokesman said that if the rescue had taken much longer, the tide would have covered his head.
Geoff Matthews, coastguard watch
officer, said: 'We had about three hours to get him out, but had anything gone wrong it's amazing how that sort of time gap can disappear.
'People sink in sloppy mud, and anything they do to try and get out and struggle will just pull them deeper.
'The tide would have covered him over if we hadn't heard about this.
'I think it's fortunate that someone spotted him in good time.'
The fisherman, who was dressed in a light blue T-shirt and jeans, became stuck underneath the pylons near Cams Hill Golf Course, just before 5pm.
After he had been dragged from the mud, an ambulance crew checked him over to make sure he was not suffering from hypothermia.
He was then taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, for a further check-up.
The man, who has a history of medical problems, was very cold and wet, but was conscious and his condition is not thought to be life-threatening.
The fisherman initially got his legs stuck in the mud at Fareham Creek, but as he struggled to get free, he sank in further.
Soon the mud was up to his neck and all the terrified man could do was scream for help ? while all the time the incoming tide edged closer to him.
Luckily a member of the public heard his shouts and dialled 999.
Coastguards rushed to the scene and raced against time to free the 38-year-old Portchester man, who has not been named.
For one-and-a-half hours a team of five coastguards used winches and a stretcher-like device to dredge the man up from the thick mud.
They wore special wide footwear to walk on the soft mud so they didn't sink as well.
A coastguard spokesman said that if the rescue had taken much longer, the tide would have covered his head.
Geoff Matthews, coastguard watch
officer, said: 'We had about three hours to get him out, but had anything gone wrong it's amazing how that sort of time gap can disappear.
'People sink in sloppy mud, and anything they do to try and get out and struggle will just pull them deeper.
'The tide would have covered him over if we hadn't heard about this.
'I think it's fortunate that someone spotted him in good time.'
The fisherman, who was dressed in a light blue T-shirt and jeans, became stuck underneath the pylons near Cams Hill Golf Course, just before 5pm.
After he had been dragged from the mud, an ambulance crew checked him over to make sure he was not suffering from hypothermia.
He was then taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, for a further check-up.
The man, who has a history of medical problems, was very cold and wet, but was conscious and his condition is not thought to be life-threatening.