A MEMBER of staff cleaning up a redundant cement works was trapped for an hour yesterday afternoon when his arm was buried by falling clinker.
Father-of-two Tony Birnie, from Ireshopeburn, in Weardale, was able to walk free from his ordeal at Lafarge Cement's Blue Circle plant, at Eastgate, County Durham.
Workmates who are part-time firefighters at Stanhope Fire Station joined in the rescue along with other crew members from the same station.
They hammered away large chunks of clinker which had fallen on Mr Birnie as he put his hand into a hopper to clear a blockage.
A company spokesman said: "He went to hospital for precautionary checks, accompanied by another member of the Lafarge Weardale team, and was quickly discharged."
Mr Birnie is one of 19 Lafarge employees still at Eastgate decommissioning the plant, which stopped production last August.
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