A YORK man has suffered serious injuries after falling 130ft in a remote part of the Lake District.

The 65-year-old man was in Sour Milk Gill, Borrowdale, when he fell about 40 metres, or 131ft. He was saved in a dramatic operation by mountain rescue volunteers, the RAF, and the air ambulance.

He was airlifted to hospital by the Great North Air Ambulance after the accident, which happened at about 6pm on Monday. He suffered what are thought to be major head, chest and back injuries.

More than 20 volunteers from Keswick Mountain Rescue were involved in the three-hour mission to bring him back to safety. A friend with him had raised the alarm in the nearby hamlet of Seathwaite.

One of the mountain rescue volunteers, who lives in Seathwaite, went straight to the spot where the injured man was lying, while his wife called for help.

Within ten minutes a mountain rescue crew was on its way down the valley, and two more vehicles were later sent, while the RAF and air ambulance were called.

Keswick Mountain Rescue’s team leader Chris Higgins said: “We knew it was a serious rescue.

“The gentleman was given first aid at the scene and stabilised by our team.

He had fallen into the water and he was very cold, so he was insulated and warmed up.”

Luckily, an RAF Sea King helicopter was in the area, and could divert to Borrowdale and get to the scene very quickly, he added.

The man, who was following the Coast To Coast route, had fallen 500 metres away from Seathwaite, but the popular path had become treacherous in the poor weather on Monday evening, Chris added.

“It was not a straightforward rescue by any stretch.

“The weather was pretty awful, it had been raining most of the afternoon, it was fairly windy, and the rocks were slippery.

“It’s fantastic that the helicopters were able to fly in those conditions.

Visibility was poor, the cloud base was low and the wind was high and all those things are against helicopters flying. The crews don’t take risks, but they understood the severity of the case and if they can help us they will.”

The RAF crew winched the injured man out and flew him to the valley bottom, where he was transferred to the waiting air ambulance.

A spokesman for the air ambulance said yesterday: “He had sustained multiple serious injuries and had come to rest in an area completely inaccessible by road.

“A Sea King aircraft and crew from RAF Boulmer were able to winch the patient and fly him down the hillside, where our helicopter was waiting to take him to hospital. The man was then flown to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, receiving treatment along the way.

The spokesman added: “We had to fly through difficult dark and wintry conditions but arrived safely after a 30-minute flight. The patient was stable on arrival.”

The mountain rescue team also made arrangements for the injured man’s walking companion to be driven to the hospital in Middlesborough.