A 40-year-old man is fighting for his life after his legs were crushed in heavy machinery.

Colleagues said the man was in a heavy duty car crushing machine when it was accidentally switched on.

The man was given an emergency anaesthetic by doctors at the scene and was flown to the Royal London Hospital by air ambulance following the incident on Tuesday.

He is said to be in a stable but critical condition and his injuries have been described as life-threatening.

Emergency services were called to Ripley Auto Spares Ltd at Hole Farm in Westfield Lane, Westfield, near Hastings, at around 8.45am.

The injured man was named locally as Peter Sarniak from Hastings, a Polish worker who had been working at the site since January last year.

Unconfirmed reports said that the worker's legs had both been sheared off by an 800t Press and Shear machine.

Doctors said that he was trapped in the machine for around 45 minutes at the vehicle dismantling yard.

The man was treated at the scene by a medical team including doctors from SIMCAS, the immediate care charity; the air ambulance and paramedics from South East Coast Ambulance Service.

Emergency blood supplies had to be rushed to the scene.

One employee said how he watched in horror as the man had his leg severed by the machine.

The employee said his colleague was fixing the machinery when it was turned on while he was inside.

Other colleagues were said to be in shock about the incident.

The air ambulance landed in a field close to where the incident occurred and the patient was given pain relief at the scene.

He was then flown to London.

SIMCAS doctor Alan Pearce said “This was a nasty incident for everyone involved.

“It was comforting to know that the pain relief and anaesthetic we gave him because of the horrific injuries we gave him would help reduce and relieve his suffering.”

The incident is now being investigated by Sussex Police in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive.

An employee at Ripley said that the company would not comment on the incident while an investigation was still being carried out.