Airlift after tree accident

Thursday 12th March 2009, 12:08PM GMT.

air_ambulance A 19-year-old man was airlifted to hospital with a broken leg after an accident while felling trees in a Shropshire village.

It is thought he had been cutting down trees when his leg became trapped at a site in Lee Brockhurst, near Whitchurch, yesterday.

Ambulance crews and police were called to a property off the A49 at about 9.45am.

The man was treated at the scene before being airlifted to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire with multiple leg fractures.

The Health and Safety Executive has been informed and an investigation is under way.

Suzie Fothergill, a West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman, said: “The man suffered the injury whilst removing some trees from the back garden of a property.

“The 19-year-old is believed to have been working at the property.

“It seems as though they were cutting down trees and they were moving the trees that they had cut, and the man’s leg got pinned between the bit of the tree they were removing and what was left. It got stuck between the two and he broke his leg.

“He was treated on scene for fractures to his leg before being airlifted to University Hospital of North Staffordshire for further assessment and treatment.”

Maria Hawkaluk, a spokeswoman for West Mercia Police, said: “The injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.”

View more: North Shropshire news.