A man died in a canal boat tragedy at Ravensthorpe on Sunday night.

The 60-year-old was with a younger man on board a boat which was navigating a lock.

Police said the younger man, aged 32, climbed off the boat to release the lock.

As they were working to open the gates the older man plunged into the water.

A police spokesman said the younger man jumped into the water but couldn’t find the other man.

Instead he clambered up a banking and flagged down a passing taxi to raise the alarm.

Emergency services on the bridge in Calder Road in Ravensthorpe. A man was pulled from the River Calder but later died. Pic by Ash Milnes.

The drama happened on the Aire & Calder Navigation, close to the River Calder, off Calder Road, Ravensthorpe.

All the emergency services, backed by the police helicopter, were mobilised for the rescue effort.

Police, fire, ambulance and paramedics were called at 8pm.

Five fire crews, including firefighters from Rastrick and Mirfield, attended the scene and water-rescue trained officers scoured the area.

Using searchlights and thermal imaging equipment , the police helicopter alerted the teams to what was believed to be a person in the water.

The police helicopter joins in the search for a man who was eventually rescued from the River Calder in Ravensthorpe. Pic by Ash Milnes

An inflatable rescue sled was launched with swift water-trained fire officers and an ambulance heart team.

No one could be found and following a further call from an eyewitness, all the officers were redeployed several hundred yards away, along with a second inflatable.

The police helicopter’s sophisticated heat-seeking equipment then picked up signs of a person and a man was plucked out of the water by fire crews and paramedics.

The man, f rom Cleckheaton , was unconscious and was given CPR at the scene, near Ravensthorpe Industrial Estate off Lock Way.

He was taken to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield where he later died.

Det Insp Andy Leonard, of Kirklees CID, said there were no suspicious circumstances and the coroner had been informed.