DESPITE a broken ankle, injured kidneys and bruised ribs, Dion Paintain, 20, of Stour Close, Strood, helped between 20 and 30 people to safety.

He also grabbed a woman who was in danger of sliding into the water, and helped her into a rescue boat. Then the pain in his ankle kicked in, he fell and was put into the boat himself.

But sadly a friend, Ann English, of Pelican Close, Strood, who travelled with him on their day trip to Zeebrugge, died.

It was chance which led Dion and his party of four to be aboard the Herald of Free Enterprise. They had originally planned to go to Ostende. But even when they changed their minds and decided to go the Zeebrugge, they almost missed the boat.

"We were talking and enjoying a drink when suddenly the glasses started moving about," he said afterwards. "Within seconds the ship was on his side and people were being thrown through glass partitions. Then the lights went out."

Dion pulled his uncle Raymond Cook on to a stack of trays and he and his partner Kitty were rescued.

"I must have hurt myself when the ship turned over," he said. "But the water was so cold I did not feel a thing at first.

"When I surfaced there was a door above me, and a couple of crew had thrown a rope down. They wanted someone who could help pull others out so I went up.

"The three of us and two others must have got 20 or 30 people out that way."