A quick thinking security guard helped save the life of a man who he plucked out of the water as fire and ambulance crews were racing to reach him.

Emergency services were called to reports of a man in the water off St Andrews Road in King's Lynn, close to the back of an industrial estate in the town.

But while a fire crew from Lynn and the fire service rescue boat were on their way, a security guard working in the area heard a 'rustling in the reeds' and discovered a man struggling in the water.

He pulled him out before handing over to fire and ambulance crews who then took over.

Derek Sim, the fire service's incident commander and station manager at Thetford, said the man was 'fortunate' the security guard heard him.

He said: 'We arrived and the security guard, who had heard rustling in the reeds, went to investigate and managed to pull him to safety.

'We got there and gave trauma care. He had cuts and was getting colder and was in the early stages of hypothermia.

'He's fortunate the guy (security guard) heard him. He wasn't in the best of health when we got to him but by the time the paramedics got there he was a bit more lucid.'

Mr Sim today praised the security guard for his swift actions in the rescue which happened just before 5.50pm yesterday.

He said: 'He kept calm, didn't get too worried about it, perfect really.

'You couldn't have asked him to have done more. It was a case of right place, right time for the person involved.'

It is thought the man was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), about half a mile away, where it emerged he had left earlier in the evening.

A spokesman in the Norfolk police control room said they received a call about a concern for safety after a man walked out of the QEH.

He said police had been assisting the hospital in looking for the man who was later pulled out of the river.

Were you the security guard who rescued the man? Email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk