A man who crashed his car in the freezing cold temperatures of night-time was saved from hypothermia when police found him by using thermal-imaging drone.

 

The police drone was deployed just after 2am, He was discovered in a deep ditch, 500ft (160m) away from his car on the A16 near Ludborough, Lincolnshire.

 

Sgt Mike Templeman said the man was found "unresponsive and hypothermic".

He tweeted: "Great result & life possibly saved!" after a ground search had failed to find the man.

 

"We did extensive searches in the police vehicles, obviously we are very rural and it was very dark so you're limited in what you can see."

The man has been taken to hospital for treatment.

 

Drone Footage

The moment our #thermal #drone found a hypothermic man in a 6’ deep ditch 160m from his crashed car in the pitch dark tonight. Casualty conveyed to hospital. Thanks to @WoldsSgt for the request that may well have saved his life. pic.twitter.com/LwrPnBVj6H

— Lincs Police Drones (@lincsCOPter) February 25, 2018

 

The police response was praised by Lincolnshire Police deputy chief constable Craig Naylor who said: "Great work Tempo and drone pilot." He asked the officers to contact him to let him know if the rescue had brought any lessons which could improve the response.

 

 

A police officer can be seen walking towards the man being directed by the drone pilot. When he finds him he calls another officer who is seen running to the scene as an ambulance is called.