TWO balloonists have walked away from a crash landing in a school playing field.

Paramedics at the scene said the incident, yesterday, could have been far worse.

Wayne Davies and Sue Manton, of Worcester ambulance station, were driving towards Bromsgrove to go on stand-by, at about 8am, when they saw the balloon sinking rapidly.

The quick-thinking paramedics, who have both been in the job 15 years, followed the balloon and saw it crash into Charford First School's playing field.

"We saw them pulling the cord, trying to inflate the balloon more, but it wouldn't go upwards. It was inflated but it was descending quickly," said Mr Davies, 37.

"We followed it and it crashed into the school playing field as we were driving towards it.

"It was lucky really - it wasn't far from a housing estate. It could have been a lot worse.

"And it could have been very serious indeed if it had been a week day. It could have been quite nasty - kids would have been playing in the playground."

One of the two male balloonists, who were in their 30s and believed to be from Redditch, was treated on the spot for lacerations to his back.

They then phoned for assistance and were picked up by a friend in a Land Rover.

"They told us they had taken off about 10 minutes earlier from Redditch. They also said they were doing 28 knots, or 48 miles an hour landed," said Mr Davies. "They were extremely lucky."