EMERGENCY services were on full alert to stop a distressed man throwing himself off a bridge and into the River Dee.
Police officers, paramedics and the Chester Fire Service went to Grosvenor Bridge in the early hours of Friday after the man was spotted straddling the stone parapets.
Police arrived shortly after 12.30am and it took nearly two-and-a-half hours to talk the man down while firefighters and paramedics were on standby.
Chester Fire Service arrived with two appliances, a rescue boat and an inflatable walkway in an effort to prevent a tragedy.
The boat was launched and the inflatable walkway - used to rescue people from ice and water - was attached to it
Eleven firefighters attended the scene, two crew members manned the boat and the walkway, while the others waded the river and covered the river bank in case the man plunged from the bridge into the shallow waters.
The man, from the Chester area, was eventually talked down from the bridge shortly before 3am. He was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Leading firefighter Andy Spencer said: 'The water there looks quite deep but in actual fact when the tide has gone out it is not quite four feet deep. Although it is still extremely dangerous you are more likely to break your legs then anything else.
'Grosvenor Road was closed while all this activity was going on, so it was quite chaotic. After the man had been taken to hospital the road remained closed while we got the boat out of the water.'
