A MAN was airlifted to hospital after falling ill on a beach this morning.

The emergency services were called to Blast Beach at Nose's Point, Seaham, where paramedics treated the man.

A spokesman for North East Ambulance Service said: "We were called at 7.11am this morning to Nose's Point, in Seaham, to a report of a male suffering chest pains.

"We sent one HART paramedic, one ambulance and the air ambulance. "He has been flown to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough."

A spokesman for the Great North Air Ambulance said: “The patient was assessed at the scene by the paramedic and doctor team, before being flown to James Cook Hospital.”

His condition was described as non life-threatening and stable.