A MAN was airlifted to hospital with potentially life-changing injuries after trapping his leg in grass-cutting gear in Kingsteignton.
Two fire crews from Newton Abbot rushed to Lindridge Hill where the casualty caught his right leg in one of his ride-on mower’s rotary blades yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.
He was given painkilling drugs by paramedics while firefighters dismantled parts of the mower with small tools to release the badly gashed leg.
His appalling injury was thought to extend from the knee to his foot.
The operation to extricate the man, reckoned to be in his 50s, took some 20 minutes.
He was then flown by air ambulance to Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital for treatment.
The aircraft was able to land right near the scene of the accident which happened on a steep slope at a private address.
It’s not believed the mower had toppled over, although how the man came to be trapped in one of three rotary blades at the front end of the machine remains a mystery.
He had been working on the land with another man when the accident happened just before 3pm. The other man was able to ring 999 for help.
Paramedics were first on the scene, quickly followed by the fire crews.
A witness at the scene said later: ‘It was very nasty. The injury was extremely serious, but the chap was given lots of drugs.
‘I was told the blade had gone down a few inches through his calf muscle to the bone. I heard he was lucky that he did not sever the main artery.’
A fire spokesman said after the drama: ‘We did not have to use any specialist cutting gear we had with us. We were able to dismantle drive belts and take it from there.’
The casualty, who has not been named, was said to be conscious - although sedated - throughout his agonising ordeal.