EIGHT partygoers had to be rescued by the Tower lifeboat crew on New Year’s Eve as celebrations took a turn for the worst.
The Tower Hill-based crew - the busiest in the country – had to retrieve one reveller who had fallen into the Thames off a wall under central London’s OXO tower who suffered spinal injuries.
A person in the water at Blackfriars and another at Embankment also required their assistance.
The crew, consisting of 42 RNLI volunteers and 10 paid crew members, were called out six times after midnight and twice before.
Crowds filling the river’s banks reached an all-time high of a quarter of a million people on Friday.
Some 7,000 were also aboard boats on the Thames to watch the famous New Year fireworks.
Last year, the Tower crew saved 24 lives, including one on Christmas Day.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here