A reveller who fell into the River Medway after a night out has thanked a neighbour for jumping in to save his life.

Ian Chadwick, 53, was asleep in his home in Clifford Way, Maidstone, when he heard shouting coming from the waterway nearby.

He said: "I could see some people by the water with their mobile torches on so went down to see what was going on.

"A man was in the water calling for help.

"We tried to get him to swim to the bank but he didn't seem able to do that.

"So I jumped in and swam out to him. It wasn't easy because not only was the water very cold, but it was also pitch black and I couldn't see him. I had to listen to where he was."

Mr Chadwick towed the man to the bank and another neighbour Alan Newman helped pull him out.

By that time, the ambulance and police had arrived and they took the man away to hospital.

Mr Chadwick said: "A week later he knocked on my door, he'd come round to thank me. He was only young. It seems he'd been in town watching the England-Scotland match the evening before, and had gone to the river to relieve himself, and fell in.

"He was a nice guy but he nearly lost his life to the river."

The man he rescued agreed to be photographed with Mr Chadwick, but asked not to be named.

He said: "I'm just so grateful to him. He saved my life.

"I really remember very little about how I got in the water.

"I'd been out in town and I was quite drunk. The last thing I really remember is having a kebab.

"My fitness watch recorded 26 minutes of exercise, so I think that's how long I must have been in the water splashing around.

"I actually live quite near Ian, and when I got home after the hospital I found my keys on the floor by my front door, so I must have been home once and dropped them."

He said: "It was really difficult to swim in the water with all my clothes on and fighting the current."

After four hours in A&E, he discharged himself from hospital, but had to return the next day.

He said: "I was vomiting everywhere and feeling dizzy. The doctors said I had Secondary Drowning Syndrome."

The condition is where water gets into the lungs and fluid can build up, causing a condition called pulmonary edema.

He has since made a full recovery.

The accident happened two weeks before a massive rescue operation was sparked in the river last Friday, sadly ending in tragedy.

"I was very touched the guy sought me out afterwards to say thank you..."

Alongside emergency services a police helicopter and water units were called in, but a man's body was pulled from the water later that day.

While last weekend's tragedy has led to calls on social media for some kind of barrier to prevent people going into the river, Mr Chadwick said the difficulty he experienced was finding somewhere clear enough to get out.

He said: "There are strong undercurrents in the river and once you are in, the bank is so overgrown there's no way to get out."

Mr Chadwick said he would be taking the issue up with Maidstone council.

Meanwhile, he said: "I was very touched the guy sought me out afterwards to say thank you."

Asked whether it had been wise to leap in himself, he said: "I didn't think like that. Somebody was in trouble and needed help, so of course I went in."

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