A man has been rescued from the river near the Westgate Towers in Canterbury.

Emergency crews were called to an area of the River Stour that runs through Westgate Gardens at around 3.20am following reports a man in his early 20s had gone into the water.

Firefighters used a boat and special water safety equipment to help Kent Police try to rescue the man who was swept away by the water.

Firefighter Phil Hetherington, 44, eventually managed to pull him to safety, he said: "The man briefly got stuck under a bridge so I grabbed the chance and leaped from the river bank and swam across to him and got hold of him.

"It was pretty deep and fast flowing but I managed, with the help of the ambulance team, to get him out of the water.

"He was only dressed in normal clothes and it was freezing cold so he was in quite a lot of danger.

"He seemed to be in quite a state of shock so I let the paramedics take over."

The man was taken to Kent and Canterbury hospital and crews left the scene at 4.40am.