Hero rescuer: I dangled off bridge and told trapped mum to hand me her child

storm claims life of motorist crushed by tree

- Giles Sheldrick

A HERO rescuer yesterday told how he saved the lives of a mum and toddler trapped in a car that got washed into a swollen river as Storm Henk ravaged the UK.

As Liam Stych described the daring rescue, it emerged the horrific weather had claimed the life of a motorist whose car was crushed by a falling tree.

Henk, the eighth storm to be named in just three months, brought torrential rain and winds gusting up to 94mph on Tuesday.

Brave Liam was walking with his pregnant partner, Tia Draper, when he realised the trapped mum and her three-year-old daughter were inside a half-submerged Fiat Punto pinned against a bridge in Birmingham.

The father of two said: "We were walking over a bridge and I heard a woman screaming from inside a car.

"She was shouting, 'Help me, help me! Please save my baby! She's in the back.' "The front of her car was pointing down into the water, so I dangled off the bridge but was careful not to put any more weight on the car in case it sank.

"I told the woman to remain calm and unwind her window and hand me her child.

"I said to her, 'Give me the baby's hand, I'll get her out'." But the woman could not wind down her window far enough so Liam smashed the window of the car to reach her little girl.

He said: "I took the baby and literally hurled her behind me and into the lap of Tia, who was on the bridge." After wading in to help the mum to safety, Liam even had the presence of mind to lash the Punto to railings with ratchet straps from his van to stop it being washed away by the fast-flowing water. The rescue, filmed by Tia, was described by police as "heroic".

The motorist who died in the storm was crushed to death when his vehicle and another car were hit by a falling tree.