I’m over here!
Drone saves author, 75, after 21 hours in a marsh
TRAPPED in soft marshland with water up to his shoulders and sharp reeds cutting into his legs, things looked bleak for Peter Pugh.
The 75- year- old publisher and author had vanished after falling into a creek while taking a shortcut home during a family walk.
But after 21 hours he was spotted – thanks to a police drone that was sent up to search for him.
Members of the emergency services were then able to rush to his aid at the remote spot in Titchwell, Norfolk.
Speaking from his hospital bed yesterday, he thanked his rescuers and said: ‘I am so fortunate to be found.’
Mr Pugh cannot remember his 21-hour ordeal, but wife Felicity, 73, recalls every minute of the agonising wait for news.
She said she and her three sons would never allow him to walk off alone again, adding: ‘He’ll have a ball and chain.’
The drama began on Saturday when the family were returning to their home in Brancaster. Mr Pugh, who didn’t have a mobile phone with him, decided to take a different route to look at some seals.
After he failed to turn up his wife feared the pensioner, who takes twice daily swims in the North Sea, had been ‘washed out to sea’. Heavy rain increased concerns for him as 50 people became
‘The highlight of my ten-year police career’
involved in the search of a three square mile area. They included police, HM Coastguard, lifeboat crews and a search and rescue service.
Mr Pugh was finally found at 2.35pm on Sunday – Father’s Day – when Norfolk Police drone operator Sergeant Danny Leach spotted his pink polo shirt standing out against dense reed beds.
Sergeant Leach said: ‘We had to search a vast area of marshland, beach, woodland and open spaces. The terrain was very different and I had to adapt the height the drone was flying to search effectively.
‘It was the best feeling ever when I saw him. It was just amazing and the highlight of my ten-year career as a police officer.
‘I kept the drone flying over him to guide the rescuers. At one point he waved at the drone to acknowledge he knew it was there.
‘It is unlikely he would have been found by the thermal imaging camera on a helicopter because he was up to his shoulders in water, so there would have been insufficient heat from his body to show up.’
Mr Pugh was able to drink fresh water from the creek while waiting to be rescued.
Dramatic images show the moment the rescue team reached him and covered him in a blanket. He is recovering in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn.
His wife described his rescue as ‘a miracle’. She said: ‘He is doing remarkably well. He is sleeping quite a bit. His knees and legs were slashed by the reeds and now look like raw meat but he is a tough old bird and is recovering well.’
Norfolk Police tried out two drones for the first time last year. The successful trial led to two more being bought in February.
Sergeant Alan Butcher, who helped co- ordinate the search, said: ‘There is no doubt that without the police drone we would not have been able to locate him in the time we did.’ Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner Lorne Green said the incident showed the importance of giving officers ‘21st century tools’.