A SCHOOLBOY suffered horrific leg injuries when a piece of masonry fell on him inside a derelict building in Rossendale.

Kevin Hargreaves, 14, of Mayfield Avenue, Haslingden, underwent three hours of surgery last night at Bury General Hospital and was today (condition check needed). The teenager had gone into the fire-gutted building, beside Haslingden Sports Centre, searching for slates.

Paramedics treated him at the scene and he was rescued from the charred remnants of the first floor by firefighters using a turntable ladder.

His mother, Mrs Janette Hargreaves, rushed to the scene but was unable to climb up to Kevin and was kept back by the emergency services because the building was unsafe. Mrs Hargreaves said: "He was screaming for me and I could not get to him. The stone fell down and knocked him completely off his feet. It's like it's scalped him on his leg, completely snapping the bone.

"He has lost all his calf muscle and the main blood vessel in the back of his leg was severed. If it had come down on his head the force of it would have killed him." The derelict eyesore, a magnet for local children, was set ablaze only a few weeks ago. Mrs Hargreaves said: "We have said for years it was an accident waiting to happen.

"It should have been knocked down or boarded up. I told him to keep away after the fire, but buildings like that are magnets for children." Kevin, a pupil at Haslingden High School, has a brother, Robert, 13, and a sister Debbie, 16. It is likely Kevin will undergo further surgery tomorrow.

Mrs Hargreaves said she wanted to say thank you to the ambulance and fire service who had been 'brilliant.'

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