FIREFIGHTERS were called to lift a middle-aged man up a riverbank at Ramshaw, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, in the early hours of Saturday.
Emergency services, which were called to Oaks Banks by the victim's nephew, found him unconscious when they arrived.
A police plane trained a searchlight on the scene to help the two-hour rescue operation.
The man was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital for treatment to a back injury.
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