Firefighters worked quickly against the in-coming tide to rescue a woman who had fallen onto a bank off Booth Road in Silvertown.
The woman had been sitting on a wall when she fell around 30ft onto mud and rocks on the foreshore below.
Two firefighters accessed the bank via a ladder to stabilise her and then worked with partner agencies to bring her to safety.
Crews used specialist line (rope) equipment to lift the woman up to street level in a basket stretcher. She was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service crews.
Group Commander Nick Harding, who was at the scene, said: “Firefighters worked quickly against the tide, which was coming in quite fast, and had roughly a 40 minute window before the water would reach the casualty.
“Crews also had mud paths on standby and the fire boat from Lambeth was on scene in case it became a water rescue.
“The water was within about a metre of where the woman had been stuck by the time she was brought up.
“This was a really great example of inter-agency working and a good technical rescue.”
The Brigade was called at 1127 and the incident was over for firefighters by 1321. Three fire engines from Plaistow, East Ham and Poplar fire stations and four fire rescue units from Bexley, Edmonton, Islington and East Ham fire stations attended.