Girl injured in copter incident

An Army spokesman said they were investigating the incident

A 15-year-old girl has been injured after her horse was startled by a low flying military helicopter.

The teenager received neck, back and leg injuries in the incident which happened close to Portglenone in County Antrim.

The girl was riding her horse close to her home when the helicopter flew overhead.

The sudden noise made the horse throw the girl. The horse then fell too, landing on the girl's leg.

Sinn Fein Mid Ulster assembly member Francie Molloy said the girl had a lucky escape and had been allowed home from hospital on Wednesday night.

He said he was very concerned that low flying military helicopters were now commonplace in the area which is used for military training exercises.

An Army spokesman said they were investigating the incident and were very concerned by what had happened.

The spokesman said they had been leafleting the area to advise the public to make themselves identifiable from the air.