Crew rescues three people clinging to life in the Thames River

(Volume Warning) Two Spanish tourists were saved from drowning by a lifeboat crew today - along with a bar worker who had tried to rescue them but ended up in difficulties himself. The drama happened in the early hours in the Thames in central London. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said a lifeboat was launched at 1.32am to reports of people in the water near Temple Pier, on the north bank of the river. As the boat based at nearby Tower lifeboat station arrived at the scene, the crew could see three people, aged in their 20s, clinging for their lives to the river wall, out of reach of a crowd of horrified onlookers gathered on the Embankment above. Lifeboat station manager Kevin Maynard said: "We could hear shouting as we arrived and someone in the crowd was flashing a light into the water to guide us to the casualties. As the boat arrived on scene, one of the men lost his grip on the wall and sank below the water . "In a panic, he then grabbed one of the other men and pulled him from the wall, with both men now struggling to stay afloat. We arrived just in time and got all three safely aboard the lifeboat.