Two women were plucked from the River Medway in separate incidents on the same day.

A group of bystanders raced to the rescue when they saw a woman in the water by the Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone on Tuesday morning.

Several people helped pull her to safety at around 10am. She was checked over by paramedics before being placed in the care of mental health services.

Later that day, emergency services were called to help a woman in the river at Tovil.

Police and fire crews attended the scene just before midnight at the bottom of Eccleston Road, where the woman, who was in her 30s, was in the water and calling for help.

Fire crews used rescue equipment to get her out and she was checked over by paramedics before being taken to hospital.

A police spokesman said it was not clear how either of the women came to be in the water, but officers were not investigating the incidents further.

The two incidents are not being linked.