Woman speaks of dramatic Regent’s Canal boat blaze rescue
Tracey Corkish with the crutch that helped save a man's life Pic: Dieter Perry - Credit: Archant
A woman has spoken of how she and two men helped rescue a man from a burning canal boat.
A man escaped from a narrow boat which caught fire on Regent's Canal this morning (Monday) - Credit: Archant
Witnesses spoke of “pandemonium” as the man aboard the Regent’s Canal narrow boat screamed for help from passers-by as the cabin was engulfed by flames.
A man escaped from a narrow boat which caught fire on Regent's Canal this morning (Monday) - Credit: Archant
The rescuers pulled him out of the boat before putting him in the water and dragging him to safety.
He was taken to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel with severe burns to his hands after the blaze at about 5am on Monday.
About 50 residents were evacuated from a nearby block of flats because the emergency services feared gas aboard the boat might explode.
Rescuer Tracey Corkish, 41, of nearby City Garden Row, was passing by when she and her friend Terry saw the flames.
She said: “The guy inside was screaming. We went round the back and he couldn’t get out, so we smashed the window.
Most Read
- 1 Islington's first Amazon Fresh store opens in Angel
- 2 New nursery promises ‘outstanding childcare’ for Highbury
- 3 Reality TV star's brother ‘wasn't involved in drug-trafficking’, murder trial hears
- 4 Meating climate commitments: are butchers on their way out?
- 5 Weather warning issued ahead of expected gale force winds in London
- 6 New Covid-19 vaccine centre opens on Holloway Road
- 7 Man on trial for attempted murder of girlfriend was in drug-induced psychosis
- 8 Call to end Islamophobia in Islington at first awareness event
- 9 Festive events lined up for Islington this Christmas
- 10 Possible travel disruptions for central London this week
“His hands were both bright red. It looked like he was holding a tissue or something. We went in to grab him and that’s when I realised it was his skin.
“It just melted from his hands. He must have tried to put the fire out with his hands.”
Melting
The pair then pulled him out by his clothes and put him in the water.
A third man then ran from a nearby flat and the three rescuers used Tracey’s crutch to pull the man from the water to safety onto another boat.
Tracey added: “It was horrible. It just seemed to go on forever.”
Peter Flack, whose flat in Dame Street overlooked the fire, said: “There was a girl and a man. I don’t know where they came from, but they got him off. I think they saved his life.
“You could just hear the man shouting and screaming ‘get me off, get me out of here, quick, quick’. It was pandemonium really.”
He added: “The windows started cracking. You could smell the fibreglass melting and everything.”
Four fire crews from Clerkenwell, Islington, Shoreditch and Millwall were called at 5.32am and firefighters had the flames under control just over an hour later.
London Ambulance Service said two crews were sent and the man, in his 30s, was treated for burns to his hands before being taken to hospital.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
