THE DROITWICH man who died when his canal barge sank has been hailed a hero for saving his mum and dog.
Allen Green, 49, lived on the Sonskit barge which filled with water in Lock 5 of the town’s canal on Monday.
Allen became trapped in the narrowboat after he had helped his elderly mother Jean to safety.
He also rescued his dog but went back to retrieve items from the boat and it was at that point he became trapped.
After the alarm was raised the lock was drained and firefighters entered the narrowboat to pull Allen out.
Paramedics desperately tried to resuscitate him for 40 minutes but they were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at 11.30am.
Lock keeper James Cowlishaw, 69, had seen the boat and tried to save Allen by draining the lock to create a bigger air gap.
But he was not able to get inside because of the furniture and debris blocking any way of getting in to help him.
The Canal and River Trust said they would now be investigating what led to the tragedy.
During an interview with the BBC Allen’s mother Jean said: “I feel like my heart has been ripped out.
“Allen was a beautiful son who was really helpful.
WHe was considerate and kind. He helped anybody.
“Anyone who was in trouble he would go and help them. Anything they wanted he would do it.”
Allen’s daughter Naomi hailed her dad as ‘a hero who she loved very much’.
A spokesman for the Canal and River Trust added: “We’re deeply saddened to hear that someone has lost their life on the canal, and our thoughts are with the family at this very difficult time.
“Incidents like this are rare, and while there’s no indication there’s a problem with the canal, we’ll be looking at whether there’s anything we can do to prevent this kind of thing happening again in future.”
Flowers have been laid at the Droitwich junction in honour of Allen.
