EMERGENCY services carried out a river rescue in the early hours of Friday morning after reports that a man had plunged into waters from a Wearside Bridge.

Police, ambulance and fire crews from Fulwell and Byker, along with coastguards and the Sunderland RNLI boat, were despatched to the scene at 12.40am.

The alarm was raised after reports the man had jumped from Wearmouth Bridge, in Sunderland.

The man was discovered in the water and taken to dry land before being transported to Newcastle's RVI Hospital by ambulance.

His condition is not yet known.

A coastguard spokesman said: "We received a call at 12.41am of a person who had jumped from the Wearmouth Bridge into the River Wear.

"Coastguards, the police, the ambulance service, fire crews and the Sunderland RNLI attended the scene.

"The casualty was recovered from the water and was placed in an ambulance within half an hour."