A FRANTIC 70-minute night-time search was launched for a 13-year-old boy after his dinghy capsized in a river near a weir.

Around 30 firefighters carried out a rescue operation along three miles of Colne Water, after Gus Campbell went missing.

He was later found downstream and is now recovering.

Fire chiefs said they weren’t expecting to find the Colne Primet High School pupil alive because of the ‘freezing, fast running water’ when they arrived at the scene in Philips Lane.

The youngster had been in the inflatable dinghy with two friends aged 13 and 15, when it had hit a weir and overturned.

The firefighters were joined by police and ambulance crews as well as the police helicopter. It was not known if the youngster was trapped underwater at the weir or if he had been swept down the river.

The police helicopter was drafted in because of its thermal imaging cameras, and support crews from Darwen, Blackburn and Colne were called to man bridges along the river, over a three mile stretch, reaching as far down as Quaker Bridge in Brierfield.

Firefighters put inflatable tubes out across the river, so that if the boy was travelling down river, he could grab on and pull himself out.

He was eventually found by a policeman on the riverbank in a ‘disorientated state’ at 10.20pm on Thursday night and was taken to hospital for checks.

Gus was ‘amazingly lucky’ to survive, crews said.

A special water rescue crew from Nelson fire station was dispatched to the scene, and on arrival, all they could see was a small boat and a football recirculating next to the weir.

Nelson watch manager Gary Ibbitson, who led the search, said: “I honestly thought it was going to be body retrieval. It was pitch black, the water was freezing and running fast and high, and we had no idea where the boy was.

“Weirs can hold you in, and if you go under, you get re-circulated. The other option was that he’d been flung out of the weir and was anywhere within 1,000 feet down the river.

”It was mayhem for quite some time, but then it got radioed through that he’d been found.

“It seems like he’d been flung to the side of the river further down, had managed to cling onto the side, and pull himself out. He’d sat on the bank for quite a while, then walked back to where it happened, where he ran into a policeman.

“He was exhausted and was treated for hypothermia, but he was amazingly lucky. I don’t know how he managed to survive it.”

A pensioner who witnessed the rescue operation in Philips Lane, Colne said: “The lad was really lucky, It was really dark out there and he had been swept a long way. If he had bumped his head at all, he may never have got out.”

All three teenagers were taken by ambulance to Royal Blackburn Hospital for check ups.

Gus, was the only one to suffer any ill-effects, and all three have now been released from hospital.

Fire chiefs have warned about the dangers of playing in open water.

John Taylor, a Lancashire Fire Service spokesman, said: “We are obviously delighted with the outcome of this operation but it yet again emphasises the perils and hazards of open water, which includes lakes, rivers and ponds.

“We hope this incident highlights the dangers of entering into open water especially at night.

“Clearly something went wrong with the dingy and left these teenagers in a very vulnerable position.”

All emergency crews left the area at midnight - three hours after the operation began.

Colne Primet High School Headteacher, Janet Walsh, said: “We are aware that a pupil was involved in an incident.

“The child’s parent contacted the school to let us know he would not be in and that he was expected to be released from hospital around lunchtime.”