Man describes rescuing 'screaming' boy from Thames after body recovered in search for missing girl
1 June 2025, 20:09
A man has described how he rescued a boy from the River Thames, after a body was found in the search for a girl who went missing during the same incident.
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A man has detailed the rescue of a "screaming 11-year-old" boy from the River Thames after the boy struggled near the Royal Terrace Pier in Gravesend in Kent.
George Karnovski said, in an interview with Sky News, that after pulling the boy out of the river, he was "just screaming" as he struggled in the water.
Kent Police and RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) recovered the body of a girl, believed to be the boy's younger sister, at around 11:40am on Saturday.
The boy remains in hospital and in stable condition.
Mr Karnvoski said: "At the same time as pulling him out, I was looking around, like, where is she, where is she?
"I'm shouting, saying 'there's one more, there's one more'. I'm looking around, [but] for love nor money, I cannot see the little girl."
Mr Karnovski, 37, who is a member of the RAF, had been visiting his family who live in the town.
He said they had been out on a walk when they heard that children were in trouble in the water, which he said had "a strong current".
His brother Jack, who lives in the area, said he had seen his wife "scream, and point at the river".
"I assumed it was my children. I went running and shouted to my brother," he said.
The pair said that with one life ring, George, who had lifeguard training, entered the water.
Jack said that when George jumped in, he "said he never felt the bottom. We had to run down the jetty because the tide was running up".
"The jetty is quite long. By the time you ran down it, it was deep water," he added.
George said the conditions in the water at the time were "tough", even for an experienced adult swimmer.By the time he entered the water, he says the children were about 40 to 50 metres (131 to 164 feet) away, and it took him about two minutes to get to them.
"I started swimming. I went quite hard to begin with, but then started running out of steam," he said.
Jack said: "In terms of the current, [the children] fallen off the jetty. They were about 50 metres away, going towards London. By the time my brother had caught up with them, I'd say he was 150 to 200 metres (492 to 656 feet) away. So that gives you an idea. In a couple of minutes, they'd gone 100m (328 feet) or more down the Thames."
The LPA said in a statement they "are continuing to support police with their inquiries into exactly what happened, and where and how the children entered the water. It is so sad and the thoughts of the whole of the LPA are with their loved ones".
