A family-of-four were taken to hospital after a dramatic river rescue saw some of them plucked from the water during a canoe trip.

The terrifying ordeal has sparked calls for more safety measures on the Stour, which has become a playground for huge numbers of users this summer.

The drama unfolded shortly before 1pm on Saturday and sparked a huge emergency response, with several ambulances, specialist water safety firefighters and police called to the scene at Grove Ferry, near Canterbury.

The family, including two children, were in canoes when one capsized on a remote section of the waterway.

It is not known exactly what happened, but a man, woman and at least one child are thought to have ended up in the river.

Another pleasure boat came across the chaos and tried to help a woman who was in the water holding onto undergrowth and screaming for help.

Peter Dale, of Grove Ferry River Tours, who skippers the Ellen Mary, says the family were clearly in distress.

"It looked like a woman and a man had fallen out of the canoe and someone was shouting 'help, help'," he said.

"There were quite a number of other canoes there and people were waving at us to attract our attention and pointing to the bushes, which had grown over the banks of the river.

"It was obvious something was wrong, and we saw a man and a woman in the water clinging onto the undergrowth.

"I was on my own with a boat full of passengers who were clearly quite distressed by the sight of these casualties.

"I tried to back Ellen Mary into the trees to help the lady but couldn't get close enough because of the high canopy.

"It was clear she was really frightened and I couldn't get her to talk to me because she was so stressed.

"I also saw a small child who was soaked through and looked like he'd been in the water. He was lying on another canoe."

Mr Dale says that another motorboat came to the rescue and was able to go into bushes to retrieve the man and woman.

It took the family - who had rented the canoes from Canoe Wild - back to Grove Ferry, where the emergency services had arrived.

Mr Dale has previously raised concerns about safety on the river and has plucked many people from the water after they've capsized.

"There are so many canoes, kayaks and paddle boards on the river at the moment, " he said.

"People are just turning up with a paddleboard, or a £50 blow up canoe from Lidl, and are out on the water, quite obviously with little or no experience...."

"At the weekend there can be more than 100 of them, and I think it all started with the growing staycation trend.

"Not all are Canoe Wild, of course. People are just turning up with a paddleboard, or a £50 blow up canoe from Lidl, and are out on the water, quite obviously with little or no experience.

"We see mums and dads out on the river - mum's drinking a bottle of wine and they've got a baby in a cot and no life jackets. We are seeing some unbelievable stuff.

"We've been saying for a while that it's a tragedy waiting to happen."

The city council, which licences the operations of Canoe Wild, says the company reported the incident to the authority, which has now launched an investigation into what happened.

Previously, Canoe Wild's boss Andrew Mangnall has said it operates extremely high safety standards, adding that the operation is accredited by British Canoeing and the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority.

"All our customers have a briefing with dos and don’ts before going out on the water and have to wear a buoyancy aid,” he said.

“It is not a requirement that they can swim because they have lifejackets and the river is slow flowing.

"Sometimes people capsize but that’s the nature of canoeing and kayaking."

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service says it was called to reports of people in the water near Island Road, in Upstreet, Canterbury.

"Two fire engines and the water safety unit were sent to the scene," they said.

"On arrival, crews found two adults and two children were already out of the water and in the care of SECAmb."

A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said it sent a hazardous response team to the scene.Two adults and two children were taken to the QEQM Hospital at Margate, but only minor injuries were reported.

Canoe Wild did not not respond to requests for a comment this week.

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