Men's desperate dash to save drowning paraglider after he plunges into the sea

10 April 2023 , 12:30

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The paraglider's engine suddenly failed (Image: Eddie MitchellE)

Two brave men jumped into the sea to rescue a stricken paraglider who had fallen in after his engine failed.

The paraglider was sent into the sea near Worthing Pier on Saturday leading Scott Ricketts, 31, and Tim Browne, 35 to jump into the water and drag the pilot to safety.

"We were in Worthing on holiday to see my brother and the first thing we did was walk along the pier," Scott said to The Argus. "We heard this hang-glider buzzing around and we didn’t pay much notice until we heard this big splash.

"It was all a bit of a blur. I had my two kids with me, and I just put my keys and phone down and jumped in.

Tim Browne (Sussex news)

Scott believes that "he would have been gone" if they hadn't intervened and they were unable to untangle him before dragging him to shore.

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Tim said the water was "freezing" but that he and Scott "wanted to make sure" that the pilot was ok.

Chillingly, Tim said if it hadn't been for his and Scott's actions and if it hadn't been near the pier then it "could have been different story."

It 'could have been different story,' Tim said (Eddie MitchellE)

He added the experience was like "one crazy dream."

Tim was visiting Worthing from his home of Bromley at the time of the incident and described how they managed to drag him to the shore and free him from his equipment.

The rescue was not quick and the pair were in the water for about 40 minutes, though the two good samaritans managed to save the paraglider before the emergency services could attend.

Emergency services could be stood down because of Scott and Tim's rescue (Eddie MitchellE)

Lifeboat services were called from Littlehampton and Shoreham, but were quickly stood down. The volunteer crew members stopped what they were doing on their Easter Sunday to attend and Bea Homer even ran out of her bank holiday shop at Morrisons to answer the call for help.

"We were swimming over and we couldn’t un-tangle him, so we held on to him and swam to shore from the end of the pier.

"In a couple of minutes he would have been gone I think. You would like to think that someone would do the same thing for me."

The paraglider was briefly checked over by an ambulance crew (Eddie MitchellE)

A spokeswoman for HM Coastguard said: "HM Coastguard received multiple 999 calls at around 10:15am on Saturday, April 8, after a motorised paraglider crashed into the water off Worthing Pier.

"Coastguard rescue teams and RNLI lifeboats from Littlehampton and Shoreham were sent along with the ambulance service.

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"The paraglider was able to self-recover to the shore and has been passed into the care of the ambulance service to be checked over."

Benjamin Lynch