Ex-UKIP leader in air crash lucky to be alive

The MEP, who is standing in the General Election for Buckingham, was pulled bloodied and dazed from the crushed cockpit of the plane which was towing a banner bearing the slogan "Vote for your country – Vote UKIP".

In a statement released by his spokesman, Duncan Barkes, Mr Farage said of the crash, which also injured pilot Justin Adams: "We've both had a miraculous escape. We are both very lucky to be alive."

Mr Farage was being treated at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where a hospital spokeswoman said he was likely to remain "for a few days".

Mr Barkes added: "He is not going anywhere today. There is no way he will be at the count tomorrow.

"He's got two broken ribs, a small chip to his spine and damage to his sternum."

Mr Farage's wife Kirsten was at his bedside earlier yesterday but later returned to their home in Westerham, Kent, to care for the couple's two children.

UKIP leader Lord Pearson may now attend today's count for the Buckingham seat, at Aylesbury Civic Centre, in Mr Farage's place.

Lord Pearson said: "Despite being in considerable pain, we deduce that Nigel is back to something like his normal form."

He told UKIP's Banbury, Oxfordshire candidate Dr Sebastian Fairweather, who went to see him in hospital, to "stop worrying about me, get back out there and get out the vote".

"It is clear that both men had a remarkably lucky escape."

Mr Farage was taken to Horton General Hospital in following the crash shortly after 8am at Hinton-in-the-Hedges airfield, in Northamptonshire.

He had suffered non life-threatening head injuries and was later transferred to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Mr Adams, who managed to use his mobile phone to call emergency services, was airlifted to Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry.

The wreckage of the blue and red aircraft was left lying upside down in a field with the cockpit badly damaged.

A UKIP spokesman said the pair were trapped in the plane hanging upside down after the crash, but were "talking, conscious and breathing" while they were rescued.

The crash is being investigated by Northamptonshire Police. Detective Chief Inspector Martin Kinchin, standing by the mangled metal, said: "Looking at the wreckage behind me, I think you can make your own judgment as to how lucky they were. The people inside the plane were lucky to come out with not very serious injuries."

The aircraft had been preparing to land in overcast conditions when it crashed, officers believe.

Mr Farage's campaign manager was visibly shaken as he visited the crash site and described how the pilot desperately tried to call for help in the seconds before impact.

Chris Adams said: "Apparently the plane nose-dived. We had a banner attached to the back of the plane which basically got wrapped around the tail.

"The pilot had sent out a May Day signal and it basically crash dived. It's all a bit of a shock, especially on polling day."

Mr Adams said Mr Farage had been looking forward to the

trip, having been in a similar plane several weeks ago, and added that he had not cast his vote before leaving for the airfield.

After watching the plane being tipped over by a JCB digger to aid its recovery from the field, he added: "I'm absolutely shocked and stunned to see how anyone got out of that alive."

An eyewitness said he thought both men had died in the crash when he saw the plane.

He said: "He was coming around to do another run and then it fell out of the sky, and flipped over on its front. It was all over in a couple of seconds. I really thought they had both died."

The man, who did not want to be named, said Mr Farage had blood on his face and ripped clothing. He added: "He walked out of the plane, but you could see he was in shock."

The aircraft is a PZL-104 Wilga 35A, a Polish fixed-wing landplane, which left the Winchester area of Hampshire early yesterday and was due to fly over Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire.