A HAMPSHIRE schoolboy has been hailed a hero after saving the life of a man who had plunged from Southampton's Itchen Bridge.

Keen rower Richard Newman, 13, is being recommended for a police bravery award following a dramatic river rescue.

Currently out of action due to an arm injury, the teenager had been on Southampton Amateur Rowing Club's safety boat when he and his coach suddenly saw a large splash in the water.

The pair swung round to investigate and found a man struggling in the water, injured but still conscious.

Despite having one arm in plaster, Richard helped junior squad coach James Hillyear, 25, drag the man out of the river and on to their craft while other rowers rang 999 from dry land.

Once ashore at the Hazel Road slipway, club members had to deflate the power dinghy to enable emergency crews to apply a neck-brace and manoeuvre the man on to a stretcher.

Throughout the delicate operation, Richard cradled the man in his arms and kept him talking.

The victim, a 56-year-old psychiatric patient, was taken to Southampton General Hospital with head injuries and a suspected fractured spine following the fall, just before 11.45am on Sunday.

A hospital spokesman described the man's condition as "stable".

Hampshire police spokeswoman Lucy Dibdin said: "These young men acted in an exemplary fashion and undoubtedly saved this man's life."

Now Bitterne police officers have recommended both Richard and his coach for a bravery award.

Richard, of Tankerville Road, Woolston, said: "I saw a splash - it was quite big and I said: 'I think somebody's just fallen off the bridge.' We went over and I saw something that looked like a football - it was his head. He was drifting fast with the tide towards the bridge and he could have been sucked under. I grabbed him with both arms and pulled him in. I nearly fell out of the boat. It hurt a bit. The doctor had said don't put any weight on it and the bloke weighed a ton."

Once in the boat, Richard, who goes to Woolston Secondary School, remembered his medical training and kept the man talking.

Richard said: "I asked him why he jumped and he said it was because his wife had just passed on and he'd had enough. I am going to go and see him again. I want to see how he is."