Mother and toddler survive 'freezing' River Thames plunge The mum and baby were quickly retrieved into the lifeboat and wrapped in blankets. The crew of the lifeboat said the baby was crying and the mother was able to confirm there were no other people in the water. The lifeboat then moved to the slipway next to the London Apprentice pub where the mum and her daughter were handed over to the care of the paramedics. They were taken to West Middlesex hospital for check-ups as a precaution. Witnesses described the river's current as "fast." Joe Brooker, 22, a commodity trader in the City who lives next to the stream, said: "I saw lots of flashlights and uniformed officers, they were looking in the water, they were obviously searching for something. We were worried that someone had fallen in and got killed. Then I saw a lady wrapped with a blanket wrapped around her, she looked very cold and was walking towards the ambulance to get checked out. It was just getting dark so it is really lucky they found them and got them out before night fell and anything worse happened to them. They had a lucky escape. A 24-year-old gardener, who was drinking in a nearby pub when he spotted ambulances arrive on the scene, added: "I saw the flashing lights and two ambulances had turned up. I think a kid had jumped in to the river and the mum had jumped in after the child, they were both pulled out and taken off in an ambulance. The tide had been coming in, it could have been one of hose things when they were just caught out. It was a fast current today and the tide can be deceptive. The stream can be anywhere between 20 and 30ft in the middle. These two were very lucky because they could have been washed down the river. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police were contacted by the coastguard at 5.07pm that a woman and a child were in a stream that flows into the River Thames on Bridgewharf road in Isleworth. They were rescued by an RNLI vessel by 5.16pm and taken by ambulance to West Middlesex Hospital. Neither suffered injury although they were obviously very cold. Chiswick RNLI Helmsman Rob Archibald said "Because the water was over eight feet deep and a long way below the river walkway, the rescue could only be carried out by boat. As the RNLI lifeboats on the tidal Thames are ready 24/7 to launch within 90 seconds, we were able to reach these casualties before they came to serious harm. Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat is the second busiest in the UK and Ireland; since starting service in 2002, it has attended more than 2,200 incidents and rescued more than 1,000 people.