Woman has lucky escape after car plunges into river

Emergency services were called to an incident near Ingram. Picture by Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team

The incident happened late on Saturday afternoon in the Breamish Valley, upstream of Ingram.

Fortunately, a passer-by was able to assist while North of Tyne and Northumberland National Park mountain rescue teams were covering an event nearby and were quickly at the scene.

The woman and passer-by, who got injured trying to help, were assessed and treated by mountain rescue volunteers. They were then handed over to the care of two double-crewed ambulances. Two hazardous area response teams also attended.

Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service personnel went into the water to make the scene safe and ensure no-one else was involved.

A North East Ambulance Service spokesman said: “A female was taken to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, along with a second patient who is believed to have been a passer-by who suffered a leg injury while trying to help.”

A Northumbria Police spokesman added: “At 4.23pm on Saturday, police received a report of an overturned vehicle which had travelled down an embankment and into a river near Ingram. A woman was taken to hospital as a precaution.”

Mountain rescue teams said it was a well co-ordinated multi-agency response.