The dramatic two-and-a-half hour rescue took place after the 56-year-old man suffered a suspected fracture to his pelvis while he was visiting the 70ft Mallyan Spout in the village of Goathland on Saturday.

Paramedics from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service were called to the scene shortly after 2.30pm, but discovered that they could not gain access to the spot where the patient was lying injured.

The helicopter crew from RAF Leconfield in East Yorkshire was called at 3.45pm before the man was winched aboard and flown to Scarborough District Hospital for treatment.

A Yorkshire Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We received reports that the man had slipped and fallen into the actual waterfall, but when our crew arrived they found that they could not get to the patient safely.
"The decision was taken that the RAF helicopter crew had to be called in. The rescue took a couple of hours, but the injured man was successfully transferred to hospital."

The man was airlifted from the village, which is used as a location for filming ITV's popular drama, Heartbeat, just before 5pm on Saturday and arrived at the hospital in Scarborough following a 15-minute flight.