Oldham man who fell 200ft down ravine thanks rescuers

A man who fell 200ft into a ravine has said it is a miracle he survived.

Imran Choudhury was training on Saddleworth Moor on 23 February for a sponsored walk on Mount Kilimanjaro for Royal Oldham Hospital.

He stopped on the Trinnacle - a stone outcrop - and asked two walkers to take his photograph before suddenly blacking out and plunging down the ravine.

He spent three weeks in an induced coma after breaking his skull, shoulder, spine and leg in six places.

"The aim was to do some video and take some pictures and that would encourage people to donate," Mr Choudhury, from Oldham, said.

"At the end of the video I said that if somebody were ever to fall from here, that's the end of the story for them - and the next minute it was me."

After the fall Mr Choudhury was left trapped and injured on a slope in the ravine.

The two passers-by saw him fall and phoned the emergency services.

The father of three was rescued by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance which struggled against extremely strong winds, making the mission "one of the team's most challenging ever".

Paramedic James Allen said: "It was blowing a gale and the ground was crumbling away in places.

"If any of us had lost our footing, it would have been game over."

Mr Choudhury was in hospital for two months and is still recovering.

Tests revealed he had broken two skull bones, one of which penetrated his brain and caused serious internal bleeding.

He also broke his shoulder, shoulder blade, spinal bone, a small bone in his left leg and he badly damaged his right leg in six places.

Mr Choudhury said he felt "privileged" to have received such good care from the NHS and repaid them by treating all 280 staff who looked after him to chicken biryani from his family business.

"At times I find it difficult to believe I'm still here with all the injuries and complications I've had, but I've still got a lot more good things to do and that's why I'm still here," he said.

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