University of York student sang Adele song to calm down man trapped in ‘freezing’ River Ouse

A University of York student sang an Adele song to help calm down a trapped man in the River Ouse.

Will Tretheway climbed onto a boat after hearing noises from the river whilst on a night out.

Whilst waiting for a rescue team, Will kept singing to ensure the man remained conscious.

Will told The York Tab he was walking back from the club after an Anne Lister/David Kato football college Movember event, when he heard some “weird noises from the river”. He said: “I sprinted round to where I thought (the man) was, jumped a couple fences then… finally found him and then just kept him up until the coast guard came.”

In order to keep the man conscious and afloat, Will climbed into the boat that the man was holding onto, and grabbed hold of him until rescuers arrived. During this time he explained to The York Tab that he “sang him a bit of Adele and some Leeds chants”.

He further told BBC Radio York that Adele’s Someone Like You was the only song he knew word for word. He then sang Leeds football chants after learning the man was a Leeds fan. These were both efforts to distract the man, as he said: “I was obviously trying to keep his mind off stuff whilst he was there.

“I don’t know how long he was actually in there for but I was holding on to him for a while.”

Will also explained that he had to start shouting at the man “Don’t you stop moving your legs” due to the “freezing” temperature of the water.

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When the charity York Rescue Boat (YRB) arrived, after what Will said had been “40 minutes”, the man was taken via ambulance to hospital.

YRB member Mark Mullen was part of the rescue team that night. In an interview, he warned the public about water temperatures during this time of year: “The water temperature at the moment is very very cold, 12C, so we’re in the realms of cold water shock.”

He also advised not to go in the water to save somebody else: “It’s very rare that going in ever helps, you generally end up with two casualties in the water.”

This has been a record year for incidents, with “69 call outs since 1st January.”

He followed this up with advice: “If you’re gasping when you’re underwater then you’re starting to drown, so if you do find yourself in there, they key is to relax.

“So if you’re in York and inland, ring 999, ask for fire and they’ll get the ball rolling. We often get called out.

“If you’re at the coast, it’s 999, ask for the Coastguard.”

Featured image via Google Maps