A WOMAN was trapped for more than an hour after a manhole cover collapsed under her feet, plunging her into the drain below.

The 32-year-old woman was walking along Chapel Street, Leigh, yesterday when the manhole cover gave way.

The woman, who has not been identified, crashed through the tight gap and fell below ground level, damaging her leg.

The terrified woman, who was trapped and unable to move, shouted for help to raise the alarm.

Ambulance paramedics had to be lowered into the hole in harnesses. They gave the woman pain relief and fluids.

After being trapped for an hour she was lifted out on a spinal board and taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital with a suspected fractured leg.

A Greater Manchester Ambulance Service spokesman said: "The woman was in some pain and we had to be careful in case she had seriously injured herself. It was a terrifying ordeal for her."