TRAIN CRUSH MAN'S LEGS AMPUTATED AT SCENE

Two paramedics were forced to amputate the legs of a man whose limbs were crushed by a train at Plymouth station in Devon.

The First Great Western train ran over the man's legs between the knee and ankle and paramedics Ray McFadden and Mark Sheehan were on the scene within five minutes.

The South West Ambulance Service paramedics were alerted by a 999 call reporting a man under a train at 7.40pm yesterday evening.

Ambulance service spokeswoman Lyn Paramor said one of the paramedics went under the train to complete the amputation and give the victim pain relief. He was conscious throughout the procedure.

"If they had not acted so quickly he would have bled to death," she said. "They did a fantastic job and gave him the best possible chance."

They were joined by four other medics soon afterwards and a local surgical team was consulted while the amputation was carried out, but was not present.

Emergency services were on the scene for an hour before the man was taken by ambulance to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth.

It was unclear how the man came to be under the train but a British Transport Police spokesman said the incident was not being treated as suspicious.

The man was struck by a First Great Western train travelling from London Paddington to Penzance.