A SWAN has been killed by a narrowboat on the canal at Sidbury.

The adult bird was crushed between the boat and the lock by the Commandery at 1.45pm yesterday.

Another swan and five cygnets narrowly escaped being hit.

Ben Wallace, who was working in his office in the Commandery, said a commotion broke out and, when he looked out the window, could see the swan was clearly dead.

"It looked like its neck was broken," he said. "It was floating, with no life in it whatsoever."

Mr Wallace, the Commandery museum sites and monuments record assistant, ran out to help.

The narrowboat involved had been hired from Viking Afloat, based in nearby Lowesmoor.

"It was the first time the people behind the tiller had taken a barge out - they'd only picked it up 10 minutes before," he said.

"It was all a bit of a mess really."

Jan Harrigan, of Swan Rescue, was outraged.

"If people are going to be in charge of boats, they need to have some idea of how to behave," said Mrs Harrigan.

"This sort of thing doesn't need to happen. We spend so much time looking after the swans and then something like this has to happen."

She warned boat drivers that swans with cygnets would not move out of the way.

A spokeswoman for Viking Afloat said the company was unable to comment on the matter until they had spoken with the people who had hired the boat.