by Lynn Cox

lcox@thekmgroup.co.uk

A woman who fell down a flight of stairs at her home in Rochester, lay injured and trapped behind her front door for around 16 hours.

The injured woman, who has not been named, but is thought to be in her late 30s, fell down a steep flight of stairs at about 10pm on Saturday night.

She was eventually discovered when a family member, thought to be her mother, when to her home, a flat in Watts Avenue, Rochester, and heard her cries from behind the front door.

Her mother called the emergency services and paramedics and firefighters were called out to free her just before 2pm on Sunday.

A crew from Strood fire station were sent to help paramedics free the woman who was unable to move after injuring her shoulder and had severe pain in her neck.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: "It was a very narrow staircase and quite steep.

"She was in a lot of pain and couldn’t move and we couldn’t get into her home as she was wedged up against the front door.

"As her flat was on the third floor, crew members and a paramedic had to go in through a front window via a ladder to get into the flat.

"We then had to get her on a longboard to lift her back up the stairs a short distance so we could then open the front and get her out.

"It was a delicate procedure.

"Then she had to be carried down three flights of stairs into an ambulance, she was conscious throughout, but in a lot of pain.

"She was very grateful to be freed. It was a very unusual job for us, but that’s what we are here for."