Student Will Tretheway sang Adele and Leeds United chants to a man he helped rescue from the River Ouse in York while waiting for emergency services to arrive, reports BBC.
A 19-year-old university student, Will Tretheway, helped rescue a man from the freezing River Ouse in York by singing Adele’s “Someone Like You” and Leeds United football chants to keep him calm and moving until rescue services arrived.
According to a report from the incident, a university student used an unusual mix of music and football loyalty to keep a man calm after finding him in the River Ouse in York.
Will Tretheway, 19, said he was on a night out when he heard “weird noises” coming from the water, prompting him to call emergency services. He then “clambered onto a boat to locate the man and grab hold of him” before rescuers arrived.
Mr Tretheway estimated that “maybe 40 minutes had passed” by the time the rescue boat arrived, adding, “I was holding on to him for a while.”
In an effort to distract the man from the danger and the cold, Mr Tretheway began chatting, realising they shared the same name and university degree.
He then employed music, noting that he started singing “Someone Like You” as “it was the only song that I knew word for word.” When the man revealed he was a fan, the two moved on to singing football songs.
“After that, he said he was a Leeds fan, so we started singing Leeds chants,” Mr Tretheway explained, adding that he was also “shouting at him, ‘don’t you stop moving your legs’, I didn’t want him to get colder.”
Mark Mullen, from rescue charity York Rescue Boat (YRB), confirmed the person they rescued was “very keen to be out of the water,” noting the danger of the river’s temperature.
“The water temperature at the moment is very very cold, 12\text{C}, so we’re in the realms of cold water shock,” he said, warning that the initial symptoms—likened to “getting in a shower and gasping”—can quickly lead to drowning.
Mr Mullen also noted that YRB had experienced a record year for incidents, reporting “69 call outs since 1 January.” He warned people against entering the water to assist others:
“It’s very rare that going in ever helps, you generally end up with two casualties in the water.” He advised that inland, the public should “ring 999, ask for fire,” and “if you’re at the coast, it’s 999, ask for the Coastguard.”