“Rest and be thankful.” ― William Wordsworth

How A man ended up his life in "Yarra river Melbourne"

Man drowns in Yarra River after heroic waiter saves friend

The 22-year old barman had earlier served the men at the nearby Riverland Bar.

Dave Brearley said some friends of the men who were drinking at the bar told him earlier of their plans to swim across the river.

"I said 'bye’ to them, wished them a good night and they said two guys wanted to swim across the river. I told them not to - it’s filthy and that I wouldn’t be caught dead there,’’ he told 3AW.

About 10 minutes later Mr Brearley heard the men crying for help from the middle of the river.

"I thought they were just joking, then obviously I realised they weren’t joking,’’ he said. "Then I basically just dived in."

Mr Brearley said by the time he reached the man he rescued, the other had already vanished beneath the muddy water.

"I dragged him out backwards and he was panicking, he was in shock. He’d swallowed a lot of water, so I was just trying to keep him calm and get him to the edge as fast as possible,’’ he said.

"Then he told me his friend was in there … a few other guys jumped in and tried to help him but obviously weren’t successful.’’

The brave Englishman, from Manchester, said he was an above-average swimmer and had not hesitated in jumping into the river to rescue the man.

"I was scared, obviously I thought I could be in the same position as them and in five minutes I could be drowning myself, but I couldn’t stand there and watch someone drown."

Mr Brearley said the man he dragged from the water did not appear drunk when he saw him at Riverland earlier that night.

"When they told me they were going to jump in they told me they’re not drunk, so I still advised them not to jump in and they gave the impression that they were going to tell (their friends) not to jump in after I warned them, but obviously they didn’t."

The missing man's body was found in about two metres of water near the Princes Bridge about 12.30am after search and rescue, water police, local police units and the air wing searched the area last night.He is yet to be formally identified but is believed to be aged 27.

Riverland venue manager Andy Price said Mr Brearley dived in when he saw the two men in trouble.

"One of the guys was working with the rest of the team last night about nine o' clock," he said.

"He heard a couple of guys who went off the bank and into the river and they obviously got themselves into trouble pretty quickly.

"Dave saw what was going on, jumped on the river from our side, swam across to the south bank and got them out.

"Obviously he did what he could."

He said Mr Brearley would not return to work for a few days.

"Dave's a fairly shy, gentle kind of guy, and we will be giving him a little bit of time off just for him to be able to deal with what he's had to deal with," Mr Price said.

Paramedic team manager Susie Dean said Mr Brearley would be nominated for a bravery award.

"My understanding from witnesses that are here is that there was one very brave young gentleman from one of the restaurants beside the river here and he's actually jumped into the water and tried to swim out to almost the middle of the river and pulled one person back to shore," Ms Dean said.

"He's then gone back in to try and save the other person as well ... he’s a very brave young man to jump into the water and try and save these people…he’s gone above and beyond.”

Ms Dean said there was a very strong current in the water last night and it was cold and dark.

She said the two men who had attempted to swim across the river were with a group of friends at the time.

"It could have been far worse, there were two people in the water and another two tried to save them so we could have had a number of people in serious trouble here tonight from jumping into the Yarra thinking they were having a bit of fun and it's turned to tragedy."

It's believed the missing man was on holiday from Ireland.