A NEWLY-WED who is scared of flying has spoken of her helicopter rescue from a fast-flowing river.

Annabelle Wilson, 20, of Toothill Gardens, Grimsby, had to be rescued by helicopter from the River Ure, in North Yorkshire, during her honeymoon after she became stranded in the river.

As reported in The Northern Echo last week, a Sea King helicopter was used to lift her from danger and on to the bank.

Mrs Wilson and her husband, Lee, were staying at the Sleningford Mill caravan site, near Masham, North Yorkshire, for their honeymoon when disaster struck as they tackled the river rapids in a dinghy last Wednesday.

Mrs Wilson said: "I have been going to that spot for the past 20 years and never had any trouble." But between two trips down the river, more water came down from the Yorkshire Dales, swelling the currents.

She said: "The level was the same height, but the currents took us off course.

"So I hauled myself off on to a little island about 15ft from the bank, but I realised there was no way of getting across."

After the alarm was raised, three fire engines, two paramedics, two police officers and the coastguard came to her rescue.

But things got worse when the helicopter arrived because she is scared of flying. She said: "I started to panic, but was relieved when they got me on to the bank."

She was taken to Harrogate Hospital at 9pm and the pair left the campsite the next day.

The incident has not put Mrs Wilson off the region and she is looking forward returning to the campsite next year.

She said: "I'll definitely be doing the rapids again, but only if the water is not so high."

The ordeal was the second problem to hit the pair after their honeymoon suite in a hotel was double-booked.