Two members of shooting party, including man, 65, taken to hospital after North Yorkshire bridge collapse (From The Northern Echo)

Pedestrians fell into flood waters around North York Moors village

7:20pm Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News

TWO men were taken to hospital today after a bridge collapsed, plunging them into the river below.

The pair, who are believed to have been in a shooting party, were rescued from the River Seven at High Askew near Cropton on the North York Moors.

A 65-year-old man suffered head injuries and a suspected broken arm and was airlifted by helicopter to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough following the incident.

A man in his 50s was taken by road to Scarborough hospital with less serious head injuries.

Two air ambulances - the Great North Air Ambulance and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance - attended the scene in remote countryside, near Pickering this afternoon.

A Great North Air Ambulance spokesman said the 65-year-old man is thought to have lost consciousness following the fall, though he came round on his way to hospital. It is not known how serious his condition is.

The spokesman said: "The metal footbridge had totally collapsed into the river.

"By the time we got there, both men had been retrieved from the water.

"We think they were on a shooting party."

It is not known if they were on a shoot at the time of the incident, which took place at around 2.30pm, according to North Yorkshire Police.

A Yorkshire Ambulance Service spokesman said: "Two ambulances, a rapid response vehicle and a clinical supervisor from Yorkshire Ambulance Service and two air ambulances from Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Great North Air Ambulance were dispatched to the scene."

North Yorkshire County Council said it was trying to find out who owned the bridge and its current condition.