Fire service issue safety warning after student ends up in Sheffield river during freezing cold weather

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said the emergency services received a call from the man at around 3.39am, who said he was in was in the river and did not know how he had come to be there.

“He was in distress, he was hypothermic...he didn’t know how he got into the river, and he didn’t know where he was.

“He thinks he might have fallen off a bridge,” said the spokesman.

He continued by saying that not only did the student not know where he was, he also did not know which of Sheffield’s five rivers he was in.

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Quick-thinking staff at the fire service traced his mobile phone signal to a location behind Graham Plumbers’ Merchant in Queens Road, Highfield and realised he must be nearby in the River Sheaf.

Fire crews were then deployed to the scene, and thankfully, managed to safely rescue the young man, who is believed to be around 20-years-old.

The student is believed to have been suffering from hypothermia after being pulled out of the river.

He was left in the care of the ambulance service, who were also called to the scene.

It is not known whether the young man was taken to hospital by the ambulance service.

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The fire service left the scene at around 4.30am.

The dramatic river rescue has prompted the fire service spokesman to issue a warning about how dangerous it is to be in open waters in freezing cold temperatures.

He said: “I would advise people to stay away from water when it is so cold.

“The effects of hypothermia are very extreme and set in very quickly. It makes you completely disorientated too."

Hypothermia is a dangerous drop in body temperature below 35C, with normal body temperature classified as being around 37C.