A NARROWBOAT came to the rescue after a man was taken ill with chest pains on the canal towpath between Rishton and Church.

Paramedics hitched a ride for the casualty on the boat to avoid a bumpy stretcher journey along the towpath.

Narrowboat owners Michael and Anne Darby were in their garden, which backs on to the canal at Rishton, when they saw two ambulancemen struggling with a wheeled stretcher from Rishton bridge.

Mrs Darby, of Meadow Gardens, said: "They asked if we could help them and we took the boat up to the man . He was able to step on to the boat and we took him back to the bridge where he could be transferred safely into the ambulance.

"It wasn't a very long journey but it saved a very bumpy ride. We were glad to be of help."

A Blackburn ambulance crew had already reached the casualty with a chair by walking from Church, while Altham station paramedic Tony Lavelle and ambulance technician Michael Whitham walked from Rishton.

Mr Whitham said: "It saved a journey over very rough terrain and we probably got him to hospital 15 or 20 minutes earlier."

The man, who is in his 60s and lives in Oswaldtwistle, was said to be "comfortable" today in Queen's Park Hospital.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.