A MAN was in a serious condition in hospital last night after plunging from a telegraph pole in a Suffolk village.The 57-year-old was believed to have been working on overhead cables when he fell about six metres to the ground.

Simon Tomlinson

A MAN was in a serious condition in hospital last night after plunging from a telegraph pole in a Suffolk village.

The 57-year-old was believed to have been working on overhead cables when he fell about six metres to the ground.

Medics treated the man for about an hour at the scene in Kentford, but his injuries were considered so severe he was taken to hospital by an air ambulance.

It is not known how the man fell, but it was said that he was using a ladder at the time.

Villagers were reporting a flurry of activity yesterday as the emergency services converged on the site in the wake of the accident, which took place at around 4.30pm.

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance service said they despatched two medics, an ambulance and a rapid response vehicle to the scene in Herringswell Road.

He said: “The gentleman was quite seriously injured. He had fallen from quite a height.”

The East Anglian Air Ambulance transferred the victim to Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge, where he was being taken of last night.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said the man's injuries were considered life-threatening.

He confirmed the Health and Safety Executive had been called into investigate the incident.

It is not yet known who the man was working for, but a spokeswoman for electricity company EDF Energy confirmed he was not one of their employees.

Phone operator BT was unable to verify last night whether he worked for them, although a spokeswoman said she had not been informed of the incident.

The Health and Safety Executive were unavailable for comment last night.