The RNLI crew from Teddington Lifeboat raced to rescue two men from the Thames after their dinghy capsized.

The alarming incident happened at around 3.30p on Friday and also involved teams from the London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade.

The details of how the boat capsized remain a mystery at the moment, however it is clear that this was a close call for the two men involved.

It is understood that someone who saw the drama from the towpath called 999, who in turn contacted the Coastguard and RNLI.

Teddington RNLI said: "Both lifeboats paged at 3.34pm yesterday (Friday) to search for two people who had capsized their dinghy near Ham House.

"The casualties had managed to climb on to a pontoon mid-river where volunteer crew were able to assess them and ferry them across the river to waiting ambulance."

London Ambulance said: "We were called at 3.34pm to reports of two people in the River Thames, near Ham House in Richmond.

"We sent an ambulance crew, a medic in a fast response car and an incident response officer.

advertisement

"We treated two people at the scene who had been rescued from the water. We took one person to hospital and discharged a second patient at the scene."

The Fire Brigade said: "Firefighters were called to assist emergency service partners at an incident on River Lane in Petersham.

"Two men had fallen into the river and were rescued by the RNLI. They were assessed on scene by London Ambulance Service crews.

"Fire crews from Richmond, Twickenham, Heston and Acton fire stations attended the scene."