Passengers stranded on a broken down boat were rescued to safety by Chiswick lifeboat crew.
A total of 11 men and women were evacuated from the passenger boat – Cockney Sparrow - after it had an engine failure on the River Thames in Barnes .
London Coastguard sent Chiswick RNLI crew to the scene at 3.25pm on Wednesday (August 10).
The incident saw the RNLI crew arrive to find the boat safely anchored in the centre of the navigation channel downstream from Barnes railway bridge.
All passengers were helped to safety onboard the lifeboat before being whisked back to Chiswick Pier, a half mile away.
The crew returned with the lifeboat to tow the Cockney Sparrow back to the pier where it waited for a commercial tug.
RNLI Helmsman Andy Mayo said: “As the vessel had anchored, the passengers were in no immediate danger, but we were able to take them off quickly to safety on the shore so that they weren’t stranded for several hours until a commercial tug could reach them.
“By towing the vessel to a mooring we were also able to remove a potential hazard to navigation.”
The Cockney Sparrow, one of four passenger boats running a regular summer service from Westminster to Hampton, was back in service the following day.
