Five officers hurt as police boat strikes bridge

Five Metropolitan Police officers have been injured after a police boat struck Westminster Bridge in central London.

The Met said the incident occurred at about 15:40 BST and involved a boat from the Marine Policing Unit which was carrying armed officers.

One officer has since been discharged from hospital and the others have serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The police confirmed that no members of the public were involved or injured in the crash.

The police boat was responding to a report of a person in the water near Battersea.

The Met said in a statement: "As a result of the collision, three officers were thrown from the boat into the water. They were recovered by those on nearby boats.

"Additional officers responded alongside the London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade."

The Met's Cmdr Nick John thanked river users "who came to the aid of the officers, as well as other police and emergency service colleagues who immediately made their way to the scene to assist".

He added: "The quick-thinking and professionalism of all those involved undoubtedly prevented any further injuries."

An eye witness, Jim Bagley, who was visiting London from the US, described seeing two police boats coming up the river.

"One was an orange boat that went under the bridge and left a great big wave, and then there was a black boat that came up behind it, the police boat," he said.

"It looks to me that he got stuck in the wake of the other boat that had just passed through the bridge and slammed into the wall on the opposite side.

"We didn't see it happen, but we heard the explosion… the next thing we saw was three people in the water, coming down the river."

He added: "We were wondering why they were under way at high speed to begin with."

Officers who had been pulled out of the water were seen being treated by paramedics on a rigid black inflatable boat moored to the side of the river.

Members of the public were moved from the area and a large number of police officers, fire crews and ambulances attended the scene.

A cordon was placed either end of the bridge, which crosses the River Thames next to the Houses of Parliament, and buses and coaches travelling on it were forced to reverse and find another route.

Mother and son Cecilia Lusevic, 56, and Mateo Bilis-Lusevic, 12, said they heard a loud bang when the police boat crashed into Westminster Bridge and then watched as the officers were rescued from the River Thames.

The visitors from Chile were on a river tour boat on the north side of the central London bridge when they saw the incident. They were evacuated from their vessel shortly after.

Mateo said: "Two boats were riding extremely fast through the water.

"Suddenly, I heard a boom. I was looking towards the boat, and I heard a boom.

"Then three people went flying into the water and one of the people was really hurt."

He said the officers were in the water for about 10 minutes and a life ring was thrown for one of them.

A black rigid inflatable boat arrived to help them out of the water – the same boat that witnesses said they saw paramedics treating the casualties aboard.

Mateo said emergency services then also arrived.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said it sent ambulance crews, incident response officers, and paramedic teams as well as London's Air Ambulance to the incident.

London Fire Brigade said it deployed a fire boat and three fire rescue units with water rescue capabilities to the scene.

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