A WASTE treatment worker suffered a broken arm after plunging into an eight-metre deep tank.

The accident happened yesterday while the man was at work at the Stoke Waste Water Treatment Works in Malmaynes Hall Road on the Hoo Peninsula, near Rochester.

Firefighters from Strood station and a retained crew from Grain were called to the scene by Medway ambulance to help get the worker out.

A crane was used to lift the injured man out of the tank which was empty at the time of the accident. The man was placed on a long-board and taken to hospital for treatment.

A spokesman for Southern Water, which owns the tank on the peninsula, said the man was a contractor working for McNielty Construction on behalf of Morrisons/Brown and Root.

He was carrying out construction work at the site as part of an environmental improvement scheme. The spokesman said: "The contractor was involved in a minor incident at 7.45am and sustained a broken arm.

"An investigation into the precise circumstances surrounding the incident was launched immediately by the principal contractor."

Southern Water said the Health and Safety Executive had been informed but would not be attending the site.