TEIGNMOUTH coastguards saved an elderly man from freezing to death after he became trapped while out for a walk on the coldest night of the year.

They were called out to search for the 88-year-old Alzheimer sufferer, and luckily heard a faint mumbling near the railway line where it runs close to the River Teign at Bishopsteignton.

They found the man in the undergrowth and had to cut down two trees and a railway fence to extract him.

He was taken to Torbay Hospital suffering from hypothermia, and is now recovering after treatment.

Teignmouth auxiliary coastguard chief Glen Mayhew said it was -4C and it was unlikely he would have survived much longer.

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