A WEXFORD man is being hailed a hero after he saved a late night jumper from drowning in Wexford Harbour.

But modest Ian Jackman (33), who risked his own life to save another man at around 1.30 a.m on Friday, told The Echo he believes he just did “what everybody else would do in the situation.”

The drama unfolded when Mr. Jackman was sitting by the Quay chatting to a friend and a man walked by them.

He turned to the pair and told them he was “going to end it all” before promptly jumping into the water.

From this moment on, Mr. Jackman says he froze and “everything happened in a split second.”

He ran across to see if the man was okay and, with the aid of a nearby fisherman, attempted to throw him a life buoy.

When the man in the water refused to take the flotation device, Mr. Jackman chose to remove his clothing and leap in to save him.

He stresses that he only made this decision due to him being a trained lifeguard and having extensive swimming experience – he recently swam from Kilmore to the Saltee Islands for charity – as well as the Gardai being present.

“I was advised not to jump in but I just said “look he’s not going to make it unless someone brings a life buoy to him. I would never in a million years advise people without experience to do this,” Mr. Jackman commented.

He said that when he first reached the man, who had alcohol on board, he struggled to keep the pair of them afloat – even with the buoy – as there was a lot of struggling and pushing away.

“I tried to talk to him and to give him words of encouragement and to just help him,” he explained.

It was only when Mr. Jackman told him a personal story that “something sparked” in the man and his train of thought changed, and he finally stopped resisting help.

After waiting in the water for over ten minutes, although according to Mr. Jackman it felt like an “eternity”, the RNLI was on the scene to assist the men.
“There was a fantastic response from them,” he said, “To see it first hand was hugely impressive. The rescue operation was a collective effort between me, the RNLI and the Gardai and it worked perfectly.”

Following the rescue, the man who jumped into the water was taken to Wexford General Hospital where he recovered from the incident.

Speaking to The Echo on Friday, Mr. Jackman said he was feeling “highs and lows” in the aftermath.

“One minute I’m smiling about how it worked out and the next I’m sitting and staring into space thinking about it all,” he said.

“I went back to the Quay today and it hit me all over again. I didn’t realise how far I had swam out to him – he was out about 70/80 metres so that gave me a bit of a shock.”

He added that the response to his brave actions has been “immense” but he is taking the praise on the chin.

“People are throwing the word hero around, but I honestly believe everyone would do what I done if this happened to them. It’s an instinctive thing, or at least it was for me.”