A NIGHT fishing trip by two friends left one fighting for his life as the waters closed over his head.

Only the determination of best friend Steve Holl, who had never been in a boat before, saved Jordan Riley’s life after a freak accident off Stangate Creek on Sheppey put him overboard in the pitch-black.

Mr Holl, 28, of Alma Road, Sheerness, said: “I heard Jordan say we were going to hit something, the boat literally jumped out of the water, I turned to say, 'What was that?’ and realised he wasn’t there.

“It was my first time on a boat, I didn’t know how to stop it or start it. Although I could hear him shouting, I couldn’t see him.”

His terror mounted when he could no longer hear Mr Riley's voice, the current having swept him a mile to where container barges are moored.

Mr Riley, 27, dragged himself up a ladder hanging down the side of one, but to his horror, there was no hand-hold at the top and he fell back in the water.

Mr Holl, mastering the controls of 18ft dayboat Pedro, circled, listening for him, but by now, the chilling cold had sapped Mr Riley's strength, robbing him of feeling in his legs and he was unable to move his arms with cramp setting in.

Stopping the boat, Mr Holl used the flotation suit’s whistle, waiting for Mr Riley's answering whistle.

After 40 pain-racked minutes, Mr Holl saw Mr Riley's white face just breaking the surface of the water.

Too weak to clamber on board, the exhausted friend, had to be roped, dragged to the stern and heaved aboard.

Mr Holl added: “The first time I go fishing, I catch a 13-stone male, but I’ll never go in a boat again because the terror of thinking my friend was going to die will stay with me forever.”

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK'S SHEERNESS TIMES GUARDIAN