A MAN fell almost 30 feet into a river after losing his balance while sitting on a wall.

Ambulances, air ambulances and the fire service were all called to rescue the man, who miraculously survived the fall.

The incident happened in Bridge Street, Blackburn, where the road bends to the right and runs over the River Blakewater.

The man, thought to be in his twenties, was thought to have suffered just minor injuries but was taken to hospital to check for any internal injuries.

A spokeswoman from the North West Ambulance Service said the air ambulance, a land crew and two hazard area response teams had been called to the area behind Blackburn Youth Zone shortly before 2pm.

She said: “He had fallen about 29ft backwards off a wall.

“Where he landed was in a difficult to access area. He was taken by land ambulance to hospital.” Watch manager Chris Fogarty, from Blackburn fire station, said when his crew arrived the paramedics were already on the scene.

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He said: “He seemed fine but you can never know what’s going on inside in these circumstances until he is looked at in hospital. We just assisted the paramedics to get him out of the river. As it was not time critical because his injuries were not severe, we waited for the aerial ladder platform to arrive from Accrington so we could bring him out horizontally.”

Shear Brow councillor Suleman Khonat said: “People need to realise what they are doing and need to be careful when they are sitting near water.

“If there was nobody around it could have been fatal.

“I have known incidents where people have fallen and they have died.”