Ian Bowman who was ringing in cathedral tower was flipped upside down and trapped 80ft up after catching his foot in a rope

A bell-ringer who was hoisted in the air before crashing to the ground after catching his foot in a bell rope has described the moment he found himself being flipped upside down.

Ian Bowman was visiting Worcester Cathedral on Saturday evening accompanied by 20 other campanologists when he suffered the freak accident that left him with a fractured bone in his back.

The 51-year-old said the incident took place in a matter of seconds when he was hoisted a couple of feet in the air before hitting the marble floor of the belltower of 13th-century place of worship. He was eventually winched down 80ft from the bell tower to the church floor on a spinal board by firefighters who had to open several trapdoors and use a rope system during the Evensong service. He was taken to Worcestershire royal hospital where he was treated for a cut to his head and back pain.

A mechanic by profession, Bowman is still able to walk and speaking from his home in Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon, he said: “We were raising the tenor bell, which takes two people, and the rope caught my heel. It pulled me up in the air and I came crashing down on the floor with a big bang.”

Pictures of the rescue were posted on Twitter by the fire crew, which included a specialist rope team, who Bowman thanked as well as the paramedics who attended to him.

Grant Wills (@HWFireGCWills) Technical and challenging job to rescue one male from bell tower, professional crews a credit to the community they serve pic.twitter.com/vEOxNuUnWk

Bowman said his injury was “pretty painful”, adding: “It was just an accident – these things do happen sometimes in life.” He said: “There were 20 of us there ringing. The rope went round my ankle and it took me from standing to upside down in seconds. It just flicked me upside down – that’s what did the damage.”

The Devonian ringers had travelled to Worcester to ring for the hour-long service, which started at about 4.30pm.

The cathedral’s bell tower contains 16 bells, including a bourdon bell, which together weighs in at 16 tonnes – the fifth heaviest ring in the world.