A FAMILY New Year's Day party ended in tragedy when a grandmother died and her husband was injured in a fall downstairs.

The Haslingden family are said to be distraught following the accident at the elderly couple's home in the Manchester Road area of the town.

Police said the 74-year-old woman was helping her 85-year-old husband, who suffers from arithritis, down the stairs when he slipped and fell.

Police said he grabbed on to his wife in an attempt to stop his fall, but the force dragged them both down the stairs.

Ambulance crews were called to the scene shortly after 8.30pm and the husband was taken to Bury General Hospital with injuries described by police as 'not life threatening.'

The identities of the couple have not yet been released by police as efforts are still being made to trace two members of the woman's immediate family who are believed to be abroad on holiday.

Sergeant Geoff Simmonds, of Lancashire Police, said: "As you can imagine, the other family members are distraught at what has happened.

"It is an extremely tragic accident."