A ‘TERRIFIED’ walker was left stranded overnight in the middle of dark woodlands after he broke his ankle.

Darren Posnack, who was taking a shortcut through Belfairs Woods in Leigh after a party on Saturday, was left screaming in agony after breaking his left ankle in two places.

The 48-year-old was “terrified to say the least” as he lay in pain, “covered head to toe in mud”, and waiting for help for hours on end.

Fortunately, another party-goer, who was also taking the same route as Darren, eventually found him laying in the woodland in the early hours of Sunday morning. He then called the emergency services.

READ MORE:

Mr Posnac, said: “It must have been around 10pm when I fell. I was using my phone torch as a light, but I think I must have fallen down a hole.

“My whole leg went completely dead all of a sudden, it was so painful.

“I’d had a few drinks but I wasn’t drunk at all. I rang 999 but they said they were really busy and to ring back if it got worse.

“My phone was about to die, so I couldn’t use the torch on my phone.

“I waited a few hours and then rang them back, but they still said they were really busy. My phone died while I was on the phone to them.”

He was then rescued by another man, who “came out of nowhere”.

They were both using the woods to walk from Thundersley to Eastwood.

Mr Posnack added: “I’m so grateful for him.

“I was screaming out in pain at various points, with the occasional ‘help’.

“Fortunately it wasn’t raining and the temperature wasn’t too bad. I thought I was in a film at one point, I didn’t know if anyone would ever find me.”

Darren was due to have an operation earlier this week, but it was postponed as it was deemed too risky.

The East of England ambulance service apologised and said the service was experiencing “very high demand” for 999 services, for patients with immediately life-threatening injuries and illnesses.