AN ELDERLY man had to be rescued from a canal boat after complaining of heart problems.

He was on the River Thames close to the Napier Road Tesco when the alarm was raised at around 7pm last night.

Ambulance crews were first on the scene but the water rescue unit from Caversham Road fire station joined to assist in helping the man off the boat.

Firefighters helped paramedics get him onto a stretcher and lift him safely on to the tow path before he was taken off to hospital.

Phil Clark, watch manager at Caversham Road station, said: "It was an elderly gentleman who was about 70 years and his blood pressure was really low and and they thought he was going to have a cardiac arrest.

"So we assisted the ambulance in man handling him off the boat."

A spokesman for South Central Ambulance Service said: "We were called to a medical emergency where a patient was very unwell and needed to get to hospital.

"We sent two ambulances to the scene and one officer and the patient was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital once the fire service had got him off the boat."