Two men miraculously escaped with their lives when a light aircraft crashed on remote moorland during a training flight.

The two-seater Cessna, owned by the Multiflight flying school based at Leeds-Bradford Airport, came down yesterday at Hambleton Hills, between Ripon and Pateley Bridge in North Yorkshire.

The two men on board, Captain David Bower, of Burnsall, near Skipton, and his student, Bernard Merlino, of Wakefield, suffered serious injuries and were airlifted to the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.

Capt Bower was later transferred to Middlesbrough General Hospital for specialist treatment. A spokesman for Multiflight said the men's injuries were serious but not life-threatening.

It is believed one of the men was able to walk away from the crash.

The spokesman added: "We are liaising with the Air Accident Investigation Branch at Farnborough over this incident."

Four helicopters, two from the RAF and one each from the Royal Navy and Army Air Corps, took rescue teams to the crash site.

Experts from the Air Accident Investigation Branch based have launched an inquiry into the crash.

A spokesman today said it would involve getting a report from the pilot and examining the wreckage. At this stage it was not possible to say when the investigation would be completed.

e-mail: clive.white@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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