Pensioner airlifted after being trapped by hay bales in barn
A pensioner was airlifted to hospital with a broken leg after falling from a roof and landing in between two giant bales of hay at a farm on the Shropshire/Mid Wales border.
The 66-year-old became trapped after falling while repairing the roof at a farm in between Purlogue and Pentre, near Clun.
Ambulance crews mounted a two-hour rescue to free the man during the incident, which happened at 4.15pm on Saturday.
West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman Claire Thomas said the man had been repairing a metal roof inside one of the farm's outbuildings when he fell nearly 30ft onto the concrete floor below.
She said the building was used to store hay bales weighing three-quarters of a tonne each and stacked up to 20ft high.
"The man landed in between two stacks and became trapped due to the density of the bales and the extent of his injury," she added. "The responder paramedic was first to arrive and managed to climb down the bales to reach the man.
"The paramedic administered pain relief to stabilise his condition and carried out further treatment. The fire service set up rope rescue gear at the top of the bales to enable two paramedics to reach the man."
Ambulance crews immobilised the man using a specialised stretcher before he was attached to ropes and pulled up to the top of the bales and carried over them to a hole in the side of the building, before being winched down to the ground outside and airlifted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
