Horror fall: Man airlifted to hospital with multiple injuries after 60ft plunge (From Bournemouth Echo)

Horror fall: Man airlifted to hospital with multiple injuries after 60ft plunge

9:50am Thursday 27th September 2012 in News By Stephen Bailey

DAMAGE: Fencing around the Embassy Court apartments

A MAN in his 60s fell about 60ft from the top of a block of Bournemouth flats.

He lived in a fifth-floor apartment at Embassy Court in Gervis Road, and fell into the grounds of the neighbouring Orchid Hotel.

Remarkably he did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

Paramedics were called out at 4.28pm on Tuesday to a report the man had multiple injuries. He was taken by air to Southampton Hospital.

The Echo visited the scene yesterday and the section of wooden fence below the man’s apartment was partially shattered.

Several of the wooden slats had been broken in half and forced down towards the ground.

There was a small area of grass and holly bushes on the Orchid Hotel side of the fence.

A witness from another hotel, who saw the aftermath, said: “There
were four police cars and several ambulances.

“The police officers were taking black bags away from the hotel grounds.”

Officers closed the road both ways to help the ambulance crews.

Residents in the block said they did not know much about the man.

One couple, who were said to have been with the man when the accident happened, declined to comment.

Insurance adviser James Wheatman, 34, walked past after the accident. He said: “The police officers were speaking to a couple of older people in their 60s who looked quite distraught.”

Operations manager Sara Woodcock, 30, from the town centre, who also walked past, said: “The police were blocking the entrance to the flats.

“Two policemen were stood outside talking to people and the helicopter was overhead.”

Dorset Police said the man who fell was in his late 60s but they did not have a definite age.

A spokesman said the man suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries to his lower leg that needed immediate treatment. He was still in hospital yesterday.

There was no crime associated with the incident, he added.

The man’s three-bed flat was bought for £350,000 in 2010, according to the property website Zoopla.

The manager of the Orchid Hotel declined to comment and declined to give his name.