Man believed to have broken his leg after plummeting 15 feet off Blackpool Promenade wall

The 38-year-old was walking with his partner and two young children - thought to be aged seven to 10 - when he fell from the Promenade yesterday at around 7.30pm

One official said he was playing with the youngsters when he lost his footing after jumping onto a slippery angled platform he thought was straight. It happened just north of the old Blackpool North Shore Boating Pool.

He plummeted 15 feet on the ground below, and suffered at least one suspected broken leg.

Several fire engines were called to the incident, as were paramedics and Coastguard rescuers.

An effort was made to use a fire service cherry picker-like aerial ladder platform (ALP), but because of the location of the accident - which left the bucket hovering around six feet above the ground - it was abandoned, and the man was instead carried up some nearby steps to an ambulance.

A spokesman for Lytham Coastguard said: "We were called out at 19.31 to assist North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) to extricate a casualty off the beach with a knee injury.

"Ourselves and Fleetwood Coastguard arrived on scene, helped stabilise the casualty then we extricated them off the beach and passed into the care of NWAS."