MAN who fled after attempting to commit a robbery plunged ten-metres from a bridge into ankle-deep water.

A rescue operation was launched in the early hours of Saturdaymorning after the 24-year-old man, who has not been named, fell from the bridge at Market Street, Stoneclough.

He sustained a broken femur, a broken arm and a broken ankle.

Police arrived shortly after 2am and were joined by two fire engines from Farnworth, a fire service specialist boat crew, a specialist paramedics teamand a technical rescue unit.

Oliver Deller, watch manager for Farnworth fire station said: "The man was lying in ankle deep water. He was conscious but in a lot of pain.

"We used rescue lines to move him from the river and up the banking on a stretcher and he was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital."

A spokesman for GMP said: "Further enquiries revealed that a man had attempted to rob a member of the public, shortly before fleeing and falling from a bridge."