Quadbiker hurt in rail line crash

The 39-year-old suffered severe injuries after he went over the steep embankment at Fenton Barns near North Berwick, East Lothian, at around 1pm this afternoon.

A major rescue operation was launched involving firefighters, paramedics, doctors, police officers, HM Coastguard and an air ambulance crew.

Trains on that section of railway were stopped while the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service rope rescue team descended to provide emergency trauma care to the injured man.

Firefighters and paramedics made their way up the track on foot and stabilised the man, helped by a member of the coastguard team who went down to the scene.

They then placed the casualty’s stretcher on a train which had stopped nearby, which carried him around half a mile to a 4x4 ambulance vehicle that was waiting at the nearest bridge.

Group manager Andy Girrity, the incident commander, said: “We identified a train that had stopped nearby as being the quickest and safest way of moving the casualty several hundred metres to a waiting 4x4 ambulance vehicle.

“He was then assessed by emergency response doctors before being taken to the landing site of the air ambulance and flown to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

“This was a complex rescue operation that required the specialist skills of emergency responders from each of the services, who worked extremely closely to stabilise the casualty and get him to hospital.”

The Scottish Ambulance Service said the man suffered chest and arm injuries.