AN aerial platform was called from Hyndburn Fire Station to help rescue a man who had fallen in a Blackburn waterway this afternoon.

At 12.19pm two crews from Blackburn fire station were called out to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal on Lower Audley Street at the junction with Bennington Street.

A man had rung 999 to say his friend had fallen in the water.

Crew manager Austin Foy then called for the aerial platform from Accrington so it could be lowered from the roadside to near the canal surface the rescue the young male.

He said: "The man was successfully brought out of the water and both men were taken to hospital by ambulance for a precautionary check up."