Rescuer Victoria Mackie. Picture by Robin Crossley.
AN OFF-duty member of the Wight Search and Rescue team leapt into Ryde Canoe Lake to save a disabled woman whose electric wheelchair had gone out of control and plunged into the water.
Victoria Mackie, 35, helped the woman’s father support her legs while another off-duty paramedic supported the woman’s head by the side of the lake before the three managed to drag her out of the water.
The disabled woman, believed to be in her 40s, emerged from the water stunned but otherwise unhurt and was advised by the paramedic to go to hospital.
The drama began on Monday afternoon, when Victoria, of Nettlestone Green, Nettlestone, was at the canoe lake with her two daughters.
Victoria, who has only been a member of the search and rescue team for six months, said she she had been playing with the girls when she heard a splash and realised the woman had gone over the side and into the lake.
She said: "I heard a splash, looked up and saw she had gone in there. Her dad was with her and he jumped into the water. The two of us got hold of her legs because she had no use of them."
An off-duty paramedic, who was with his sons, raced to the side of the lake and held the woman’s head up before the three managed to drag her out.
Victoria added: "She seemed to be very much in shock. She said she had swallowed some of the water and looked a bit confused. The water was up to my waist and I was up to my knees in sludge."
After rescuing the woman, Victoria managed to retrieve the wheelchair and cushions, which were floating in the water.
Victoria and the paramedic then got the woman back into her wheelchair and advised her to go to hospital for a check up.
Victoria said; "It was down to the training I have had that I was able to help."
Reporter: davidn@iwcpmail.co.uk