AN elderly woman is seriously ill in hospital after plunging from the roof of a Burnley nursing home.

The woman, who is believed to be in her mid 70s, fell about seven feet from the main roof of the Victoria Nursing Home on to another flat roof about 30 feet from the ground.

It is not clear how she came to be on the roof and investigations into the incident are under way.

The woman was attended by paramedics at the scene and then taken from the roof by firefighters using the aerial ladder platform.

She is understood to have head injuries and other fractures.

Fire and Rescue Service Station Officer David Jackson said the lady was semi conscious and being attended by paramedics who were stabilising her condition when they arrived.

It took about ten minutes to get her down to an ambulance which took her the short distance to Burnley General Hospital.

He said: "There is a lift to the top floor and that seems to be the only way she could have got up on to the roof but we are not sure.

"There is a small railing up there which she must have gone over."

The nursing home is in what used to be the Burnley Victoria Hospital and in part has three floors with flat roofs.