AN 11-year-old boy is fighting for his life after plunging 50ft through a factory roof.

John Hall was with two friends on the roof of Bender Machine Services, Manchester Road, Haslingden, when the accident happened at 2.42pm on Saturday.

Police said the three had got into the building and climbed on to the roof. John fell through the corrugated roof on to the concrete factory floor hitting 2in steel pipes on the way down and suffering serious head injuries.

His friends got off the roof and got help from two policemen who had stopped outside the premises.

Together with a passer-by, Aaron Lea, of Chesham Fold Road, Bury, the officers gave John first aid. He was taken unconscious to Blackburn Infirmary and transferred to the intensive care unit at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, where his condition was described as "poorly".

John, of Yarmouth Avenue, Haslingden, is a pupil at Haslingden High School. Police have not named his two friends.

John's parents, Wendy, a special needs teacher, and Alan, an engineer, were at his bedside. He also has an older sister, Rebecca.

Works manager of Bender Ian Cowling said: "We are all devastated by what has happened. The whole workforce has been in a state of shock. We just hope the lad is going to be all right.

"I went down to see where he had fallen and it was the highest part of the building.

"These roofs are not designed to take anyone's weight. The only way to cross them is on cat ladders which spread the weight out.

"We have had trouble with children climbing over the wall and we shoo them away.

"I don't know why they went up there but children must realise it is not safe to play on a building like this."

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