A man almost crushed to death between a 40-tonne lorry and a skip was yesterday fighting for his life in hospital.

Bernard Jennings owes his life to quick-thinking paramedics who pulled out all the stops to get him the emergency treatment he badly needed.

That included calling on the skip driver's fellow workers to help stretcher him out of the window.

The 42-year-old was yesterday still critically ill, but stable in the intensive care unit at Southend Hospital, and still alive only because of to the crew's efforts.

He suffered serious chest injuries and cuts and bruising to his face and head.

Horrified workers at Aherns waste disposal in Stock Road, Southend, alerted paramedics after their colleague became trapped at around 10.30am on Saturday.

Ambulance crew Paul Tomlinson and Geoff Burchill rushed to the scene, but by that time seriously-injured Mr Jennings had managed to crawl into the site office.

Mr Tomlinson said: "We could not believe that he had managed to move anywhere.

"We just followed the trail of blood into the office where we found him lying bleeding and very seriously injured on the floor. It was very cramped in there to say the least and the victim was obviously in a lot of pain.

"He was having difficulty breathing and had broken ribs. We were also worried about his spine."

Because of these concerns, Mr Jennings was put onto a spinal board to keep his back straight and prevent further possible damage.

However, the only way the crew could then get him out of the cramped office was through a window, with the help of other workers at the site.

Abandoning the rest of their equipment, the paramedics raced him to Southend Hospital.

They only returned for their things when they knew they had done all they could for him.

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive confirmed it was aware of the incident and would be carrying out an investigation. Police have already visited the scene.

A spokesman for Aherns said she was unable to make any comment about the incident.

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