An off-duty river lifeguard jumped into the Thames to save a drowning girl and a man who also risked his life to try and save her.

Teddington RNLI helmsman Tim James was enjoying a picnic on a boat on the river when he spotted a young girl fall into the water near Woody’s pub in Kingston.

Another man, believed to have been homeless, dived in to try and save her, but also got into difficulty.

Mr James said: “As she fell in she was already in trouble – she was unable to swim. I tried to drive around to her as quickly as I could.

“A guy dived in from the bank to try to help her but the cold water hit him as well. As he was swimming he started going down.

“When I got there it was just their two faces sticking out of the water – they probably would have had about 10 seconds before they would have been totally submersed.”

Mr James managed to pull out both the young girl, who had been on a boat with family, and the man, known only as “Dan”, before they were taken to a nearby sailing club on Sunday, October 5.

Mr James said: “I am not a hero. I just happened to be in the area at the time.”

He added it was important to wear a life jacket at all times and that diving in after someone was “the last thing to do”.

A spokesman from the RNLI said: “We are extremely proud of Tim for his efforts while off-duty, so to speak.

“That said, the volunteers at Teddington carry a pager and can be alerted at any time of the day or night, so for many of them there is no such thing as ‘off-duty’.

“Tim’s quick thinking ensured a happy ending when it could quite easily have been a different story. The RNLI is hugely proud of him.”