Four hour rescue as pair swept over Brecon Beacons fall

A man and woman have been seriously injured after being swept over a waterfall in the Brecon Beacons.

It took rescuers four hours to airlift the pair from the bottom of a gorge near Ystradfellte in Powys.

A group of kayakers alerted the emergency services, which were joined by Central Beacons and Brecon Mountain Rescue Teams.

The couple in their 20s were then airlifted to a waiting ambulance before being taken to hospital.

"We were called at 11.30 this morning to reports of two people washed over the top of a waterfall. They had indeed been washed over, they fell 30 feet (9m) and sustained serious injuries," a member of the Central Beacons rescue team told BBC Wales.

"It was right at the base of a gorge, so inaccessible. It meant a long walk in and scramble into the gorge.

"It took about four hours to get them out."

It is understood the two had been walking in a party of four people when the woman went into the river some distance from the waterfall, and the man was washed along as he tried to rescue her.

Two others in the group walked to an ambulance suffering hypothermia.

The condition of the pair who went over the waterfall is not yet known.

Sion Way, one of the kayakers first on the scene, said they rang the emergency services, attended to the casualty's injuries and got the rest of the group to safety.

Mr Way said the kayakers were all professional outdoor instructors and know the area "like the back of their hands" having regularly used the gorge for activities.

"It was by luck we were there just after it happened or the situation could have ended a lot more seriously."