Lucky cat left with 8 of its 9 lives in East End canal rescue

A LUCKY pet cat sparked off a dramatic rescue from the Regent’s Canal in East London. The curious moggie went for a dip in the middle of the night and used up one of its nine lives in the freezing

By Mike Brooke

A LUCKY pet cat sparked off a dramatic rescue from the Regent's Canal in East London.

The curious moggie went for a dip in the middle of the night and used up one of its nine lives in the freezing.

Its teenage owner plunged in to try and rescue it, but wasa then trapped himself, unable to get back onto the towpath.

Owner and cat somehow managed to cling onto a ledge under the Salmon Lane bridge in Limehouse, while a passer-by dialled 999.

"The cat had gone for a swim, but the water was too cold and it got into trouble," one of the fire-crew told the East London Advertiser this-morning. "The poor thing was soaking wet when we got there, like its owner."

The fire brigade crew had to launch a rescue craft onto the canal to reach them. The 18-year-old owner was treated for the cold by ambulance paramedics after the rescue.

Both were later recovering in the warm at their home in Salmon Lane nearby, none-the-worse for their ordeal.