'INSTINCT'

Brave Scots ferry skipper who saved woman from drowning after car plunged in River Clyde insists he’s no hero

A BRAVE ferry crew saved a drowning woman after her car careered into the River Clyde.

Skipper Don MacPhee, 63, dived in and pulled the woman from the sinking motor as crewman Ben Staal, 19, helped haul her on board.

The heroes, who crew the cross-Clyde Renfrew Ferry in Glasgow, had sped towards the stricken 52-year-old as the car vanished into the water.

They hauled her out and issued a mayday signal for a full emergency response.

The unnamed woman was recovering in hospital tonight as cops launched a probe into the near-death incident.

Don, of Renfrew, said: "We're not heroes - we did what anyone would have done."

Ben, from Gorbals, Glasgow, said: "The rule of the sea is that you help -it's instinct."

The drama happened around lunchtime as Don and Ben were sailing passengers between Renfrew on one side and Yoker on the other.

Don said: "I heard a splash and looked round to see a car half in the water with its window down.

"We got over alongside it and shouted to her to climb out but she wasn't capable.

"She was submerged so I dived in and grabbed her just as she was going floppy."

Trainee cop Ben helped Don haul the woman onto the ferry and laid her on her back coughing and spluttering.

Coastguard, police and fire crews raced to the scene before paramedics took the women to the nearby Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Dad-of-five Don, a commercial diver for 40 years, has his home on South Uist with wife Anne - but was crewing the Renfrew Ferry while gaining qualifications to work abroad.

But he's been unable to return home due to lockdown.

He said: "I've been working on boats all my life so I've no fear of the water."

Ben, originally of Cupar, Fife but now of Glasgow, is currently going through the recruitment phase for the cops.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Shortly before 1pm, police received a report of a car in the River Clyde, close to the Renfrew ferry crossing.

"A 52-year-old woman was rescued from the vehicle by members of the public.

"Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances."