Man thrown from tumbling tractor

Chris Williams was thrown free as his tractor plummeted down this hill Enlarge Image

A farmer who survived after his tractor tumbled 300ft (90m) down a hillside is back home with his family.

Chris Williams, 35, was thrown clear when his machine slipped backwards as he tried to clear a field of thistles on farmland near Caersws, Powys.

He was airlifted to hospital with a crushed vertebrae and fractured shoulder but expects to be out of his neck brace soon, said his wife Myra.

She said: "And then it's light duties for three months."

Mrs Williams said her husband was "recovering slowly" after the accident, which happened on 10 July.

She said he landed heavily on his shoulders and neck but was able to ring her on his mobile to say he could see the tractor's wheels rising and falling as it continued down the hill.

The machine was wrecked but its fall down an embankment at Cil Haul Farm near Llanidloes was witnessed by a neighbour, who alerted the emergency services.

After 300ft (80m) of tumbling - this is all that remained of the tractor Enlarge Image

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue were initially unable to reach Mr Williams and had to use a quad bike and lines to haul him to safety over the steep terrain.

He was put on to a spinal board and taken to hospital by air ambulance.

Mrs Williams has put her husband's survival down to him not using the tractor's seatbelt.

She said Mr Williams had been "frightened" by his ordeal and was trying to "forget about it as much as he can".

She said: "I think it just happened so quick."

Mrs Williams said their children - Jack, four, and Cerys, two-and-a-half - had been shocked to see their father injured.

She said: "I explained to Jack what had happened and he took it very well. They were a bit shocked to see him on the first day when we took them to the hospital, but then they were quite happily sitting on the bed with him shortly after.

"They've been very good with him, very careful with him."

She said she was doing the work around the farm for the time being, with help from family, while Mr Williams recovered.