A MAN was rescued by firefighters after he was found unconscious in a ‘drugs den’ next to a river.

Paramedics and fire crews were called to Hall Street in Burnley after receiving reports of a man in the River Brun, behind McDonald’s.

But when they arrived at the scene, they found the unconscious man down an embankment.

Firefighters from Burnley and Hyndburn were called around 6.15pm on Saturday to help remove the man from an area where the riverbank had washed away, leaving a concrete culvert.

Crew manager at Burnley fire station, Alan Ashworth said: “We were called to assist paramedics with an overdosed male who was in a very, very poor condition. We helped to resuscitate the casualty, and an aerial ladder platform came over from Hyndburn to help remove him from an area of land where the banking has washed away, leaving the concrete footing of the nearby shops.

“The man was very lucky. If we had not got to him when we did, paramedics said he would have died.

“A couple of people in a car saw a man jump over a wall and thought he had fallen in the river, but when we arrived we found a drugs den.”

A nearby worker, who did not want to be named, said the area was a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

He said: “I saw an ambulance and a fire engine with a ladder out. We thought it must have been a training exercise.

“The area is always full of kids. There’s a ramp round the back and a lot of people there all the time. If you come down Hall Street you can’t see them, but if you go in the car park, you can see them on the other side of the river.”