A MAN was rescued in the nick of time from his sinking narrowboat last night.

The boat had got into trouble 400m downstream of Kempsey on the river Severn, and the man on-board was found desperately trying to bail the water out. Minutes after being plucked to safety the narrowboat had completely sunk.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service were called to the boat at 7.30pm yesterday. Two rescue boats were brought to the scene, one from Evesham and another from Worcester, on off road vehicles.

Alec Mackie from the fire service, said: "We got the rescue boats launched and found this guy on his narrowboat bailing out. He was standing in one to two feet of water.

"The first thing we needed to do was get the man off. We got him into one of our boats and into safety and took him to Kempsey marina where an ambulance was waiting because he was suffering from hypothermia.

"We then went back down stream to the boat and put another man on board to carry out a search and ensure no-one else or any animals were trapped.

"By now there was two feet of water in the boat and it was beginning to list, so we got out team off and more-or-less simultaneously as we pulled away the stern disappeared and the bow raised into the air and down it went."

The boat is now completely submerged. The fire service have notified British Waterways and marked where it has sunk to prevent other river traffic running into it. They have also alerted the Environment Agency as they believe the boat was being fuelled by 40 gallons of Derv, a type of fuel oil used for diesel engines.

The man, believed to be in his 50s, was taken to Worcester Royal Hospital where he was treated for hypothermia.