TWO paragliders crashed in the Forest of Bowland hills just 200 yards apart in the space of two days.

The casualties, both men, were airlifted to the Royal Preston Hospital with leg and back injuries.

An air ambulance crew was called to Parlick Fell in Chipping at around midday on Thursday where a paraglider had crashed.

The man, in his 40s, was suffering with leg and spinal injuries.

At 7.15pm the next day, a man in his 30s from Clayton-le-Moors suffered a broken leg and possible spinal injuries when he crashed nearby.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance took him to hospital because the North West helicopter was unavailable.

Paul Durham, from the Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team, said: “On Thursday lunchtime we were scrambled by North West Ambulance to a paragliding incident on Parlick Fell near Chipping, with a report of a pilot with leg and spinal injuries.

“As the air ambulance was able to land close to the injured man, we were stood down.

“We attended the second incident, which was only a couple of hundred yards away from the first.

“When we arrived, the gamekeeper in that area had been taking the patient down on his quadbike, but on their way down the hill, the patient had screamed in agony.

“We were unable to take the patient down the path because of concerns over a spinal injury, so we had to call the air ambulance to help.

“They did a hot-lift on the patient, which is a lift while the engine and rotor blades are still running, as time was important with the rescue because the air ambulance can’t fly in the dark, and they had to get the patient to hospital and then fly back to Leeds-Bradford Airport.”

A spokesman for the Bowland Forest Gliding Club said the club did not offer paragliding and said the majority of paragliders in that area were flying independently of a club.

>> See Monday's Lancashire Telegraph for pictures of one of the rescues