Colne man's arm severed by saw in freak accident

Arthur Roberts, who is in his 60s, was cutting wood in his garden in Belgrave Road, Colne, when the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon.

He was airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital.

An air ambulance spokesman said his arm would have been transported with him but it was not known if it could be reattached.

Paramedics arrived at 1.30pm and called the air ambulance to help transfer him to hospital.

The spokesman said: “The helicopter landed in Talbot Street, Colne, at 1.35pm.

“On arrival they found a man in his 60s had severed his arm with a circular saw.

“The man was taken to Royal Preston Hospital in around 10 minutes.”

Neighbours have been left shocked by the incident.

Derek Simpson, who lives in Talbot Street, said: “I heard the helicopter coming down and wondered what was going on. It was unbelievable.

“It hovered around for a while before coming down.

“It was here for about an hour and there was quite a crowd on the street.”

Another resident in Alan Haigh Court, who didn’t wish to be named, said: “I thought it was a motorbike at first until it got really loud.

“There were a lot of people out looking. You never see anything like this around here.”

Sheila Davidson, also of Talbot Street, said: “Nobody seemed to know what was going on.

"There was an ambulance here for quite a while and then the air ambulance arrived, and spent about 45 minutes here before taking someone to hospital. It caused quite a stir.”

It is believed Mr Roberts has lived in the end terrace house for at least 10 years.

His wife Fay was too upset to speak when contacted by the Lancashire Telegraph on Tuesday night.

Police were also called to the scene by the ambulance crew but said they were not investigating the incident.

A spokesman for Lancashire Constabulary said: “We were asked to clear the area for the Air Ambulance to land and monitored the situation but other than that we had no involvement.”