A BRADFORD on Avon dive instructor jumped to the rescue after a canoeist overturned on the canal near Dundas Wharf and lost her bag.

Andy Webber, 48, made a fingertip search of the bottom of the Kennet & Avon Canal to locate Julia Malby’s brown suede rucksack from the mud and silt.

The bag contained around £300 in a purse, mobile phones, a mobile phone charger and cable, a dress she planned to wear to an awards reception, and the keys to her flat and workplace.

Andy, who runs the Compass Dive School at Dundas Wharf, said: “I had a call from The Angelfish Restaurant and Bath Narrowboats to help this lady.

“It was a great feeling to find the bag. When I gave it back to her I got a very big smile and a small reward. She was very grateful that I’d found it.”

Miss Malby, 28, fell out of a canoe into the canal a week ago on Monday when it overturned as she and a work colleague were approaching the Dundas Viaduct.

Because of the loss, Julia, a manager at a city centre cocktail bar and lounge in George Street, Bath, was forced to cancel a trip to the Bath Life awards reception for finalists that evening.

Miss Maltby said: “My colleagues and I were out on the canal for a staff party.

“Everything we had was in the bag for safekeeping because the canoe hire firm had no lockers to store our things.

“When we fell in it was a bit of a shock and I was panicking. The water was freezing cold and it was difficult to swim in wet clothes. I tried to grab the bag but it went down too quickly.”

She added: “A man walking by helped us to get out of the canal and the guys at the canoe hire firm were so sweet. They were supposed to close at 4pm but stayed on to 6pm to help look for the bag and then gave us a lift into Bath because two taxi drivers refused to take us because we were so wet.”

Mr Webber, of Berryfield Road, Bradford on Avon, went out the following day to conduct the search and rescue scuba dive after receiving the call to help.

He said: “Stuart and Sam from Bath Narrowboats had tried to locate the bag on the Monday using poles and hooks but couldn’t find it.

“I went down in my scuba gear in zero visibility to conduct a fingertip search in clouds of silt and weeds doing U-shaped patterns on the canal bottom.

“Luckily, I managed to find the bag within about 10 to 15 minutes. Julia was a very happy lady when I gave it back to her.

“I have dived in zero visibility before in quarries but I never dived a canal before. It was about two metres deep and very cold.”