A MAN was airlifted to a hospital which specialises in heart and lung conditions after a medical emergency in a busy recreation ground.

Commuters spotted the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance land at the Old Heath Recreation Ground, in Old Heath Road, Colchester, at about 8.45am yesterday.

Gazette: Rush hour - an air ambulance left Old Heath Recreation Ground at 9.30am on TuesdayRush hour - an air ambulance left Old Heath Recreation Ground at 9.30am on Tuesday (Image: Public)

Witnesses told the Gazette a man was loaded onto the air ambulance, which flew him to the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre in Basildon.

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service confirmed: “We were called at 7.57am on Tuesday, September 12 to a medical emergency on Old Heath Road in Colchester.

"An ambulance, rapid response vehicle, two ambulance officer vehicles, and the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance were sent to the scene.

"An adult man was airlifted to the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre for treatment.”

The latest emergency at Old Heath Recreation Ground comes after Essex & Herts Air Ambulance landed at the same site at about 2pm back in April.

One member of the public told The Gazette "paramedics seemed to head in the general direction of the former Paxman Factory", which closed in 2020.

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service confirmed it was called after reports of a woman suffering a fall.