Pair praised over bid to save canal tragedy boy

TWO men who tried to rescue a youngster who died after falling into a canal while picking blackberries have been praised for their courage.

The Rotherham Assistant Deputy Coroner, Mr Mark Beresford, said that passer-by Reza Abollazadh and Pc John Porter had displayed “great personal bravery” while trying to save little Mathew Cartwright.

An inquest heard today that Mathew, of Windhill Terrace, Mexborough, had been with his cousin when he slipped into the water of the South Yorkshire Navigation Canal at Swinton Lock last August.

The hearing was told that the schoolboy had been playing with his cousin before going to pick fruit. He had reached too far and fallend into the canal.

Mr Abollazadh and Pc Porter had jumped into the canal to help.

Pc Porter found Mathew below the surface and dragged him to the canal bank.

Mathew was airlifted to Rotherham General Hospital and later transferred to Sheffield Children’s Hospital but died the next day.

Mr Beresford recorded of verdict death as a result of an accident.

British Waterways installed a new fence along the stretch of canal bank in the wake of the tragedy.

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