A MAJOR rescue operation was launched at Denholme after a man fell while out walking.

The man, in his 40s, lost his footing on a steep bank and plummeted down the slope, injuring his ankle.

Volunteers from Calder Valley Search & Rescue Team (CVSRT) were called out to help ambulance crews at the scene of the incident, off Station Road, late on Monday afternoon.

They managed to secure the man on the slope while paramedics treated his injury and administered pain relief.

Tim Ingram, for the CVSRT, said: "On arrival of our first vehicle, the patient was then secured by a simple rope belay and packaged into a vacuum mattress and loaded onto a bell stretcher.

"Evacuation was then carried out by means of sledging the stretcher up to the top of the slope and carrying it the remaining distance to the land ambulance."

Twenty-one CVSRT members took part in the operation, which lasted over two hours.

An ambulance crew and four members of the West Yorkshire Hazardous Area Response Team also attended.

The man was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for treatment.