A COUPLE walking near Lopwell Dam had to be rushed to hospital by air ambulance last week after they fell 30 feet from a footpath.

The man suffered chest and spinal injuries as well as a severe ankle injury in the fall, which occurred about a third of a mile upstream from the dam last Thursday.

The woman suffered shoulder and ankle injuries.

The walkers had landed in the mud of the River Tavy.

An ambulance crew from Derriford had to climb through the woods to reach the casualties, and treated them until the air ambulance and two further vehicles from Derriford arrived.

The helicopter could not reach the steep-sided stretch of river where the couple had landed, so pilot Rob Mackie lowered it on one skid on reeds at the river?s edge and released a paramedic who made his way upstream.

The injured pair were taken separately to the air ambulance in an inflatable dingy provided by a doctor who lived nearby, because the path through the woods was too steep and obstructed to carry a patient on a stretcher.

Bere Alston fire crew and the Camel?s Head line rescue team helped transfer the casualties from the boat to the air ambulance before they were flown to Derriford Hospital for further treatment.

Paramedic Haydn Glanvill, who was part of the two-man crew on board the Devon air ambulance, said: ?The pilot couldn?t get any closer to the casualties because of the high valley sides, but did a great job of landing us as close as possible.?