A MIDNIGHT swimmer stripped down to his boxer shorts before jumping into the River Dee at high tide - then told fire crews he was in Olympic training.
Passers-by dialled 999 at 12.02am yesterday (Thursday) after seeing the man being swept from the Groves bandstand towards the weir at Salmon Leap.
Two fire appliances and a rescue boat attended but the man had scrambled onto the river bank. He ran off when police arrived.
Firefighter Jim Payne said: 'The man was around 35 years of age and said he had left his clothes in the bandstand with the intention of swimming straight across the river. He said this was part of his Olympic training.
'However, it was an hour after high tide and the river was very high and fast, so he was quickly swept down to the weir.
'We told him he was incredibly lucky not to have been swept out to sea. In the summer people do go swimming but we would advise them not to. People have died in the river in the past.
'He ran off when the police arrived, but I think the only offence he had committed was being extremely foolish.'
