FIRE chiefs last night praised two bystanders who jumped into a river to save a woman.

The father and son waded into the River Wear at Milburngate, in Durham City, yesterday and stayed with the woman until firefighters arrived.

Durham station officer Steve Smith said: "It is not known how the woman came to be in the river.

"The two men were walking along the river when they spotted her in the water.

"They jumped several feet from a path into the river and waded in water chest deep up to her.

"They stayed with her at the edge of a weir until rescue services arrived."

A ladder extension was placed in the river and the woman, who was in her 70s, was helped out.

Mr Smith added: "The two chaps did a good job. If it hadn't been for them, who knows what the outcome would have been."

The woman was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham where she was treated for hypothermia.