A MAN was fighting for his life after plunging about 50ft from a fourth floor window in Weymouth.

Residents said the man landed in bushes just feet from a children’s play area at the back of a block of flats in Carlton North Road.

Paramedics treated the 40-year-old at the scene before he was flown to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester by the air ambulance which had landed nearby.

Police cordoned off the block of flats next to the former Convent of the Sacred Heart yesterday afternoon as investigations began into the incident.

A Dorset Police spokesman said today the man was in a stable condition in hospital, adding the incident was not being treated as suspicious and there was no third party involvement.

Graham Holden, of nearby Glendinning Avenue said he heard a noise around the time of the fall.

He said: “I was going to pick up the grandchildren when I heard a really loud thud and thought something had blown over.

“As I went to the car I saw a couple of workmen in a van and then as I was getting into the car one of the workmen was on the phone looking up at the guttering of the building.

“The only thing I heard was a big thud which I thought was something falling over.

“My sister-in-law said someone came out of the window and police and ambulance crews were there.”

A resident, who did not want to be named, said they arrived home from picking up their children from school to see ambulance crews leaning over the man saying his name.

She said: “They were just trying to talk to him and I tried to get the kids in the house.

“From the kitchen window I could see the air ambulance trying to land and I came back outside and they were taking the man out on a stretcher but he looked very injured.

“His face was very bruised and swollen. All I could see was part of his face. He didn’t look in a good state to be honest.”

She added: “It’s obviously quite serious, I never witnessed anything like this except on television.

“It was quite scary, I’m only glad the children didn’t get to see it and this is an area where children come out to play.

“It’s not nice to see on your own doorstep.”

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “I was here at three o’clock and heard nothing and my back door was open, you could just hear kids playing because there’s a nursery nearby and the train and that’s pretty much it.”

A Dorset Police spokesman said: “A man fell from a fourth floor window in a block of flats and was taken to hospital.

“Police were on the scene to establish what happened.”

A spokesman for South Western Ambulance said the man, who suffered multiple injuries, was believed to be 40 years old.

He said paramedics were alerted at just after 3pm.