A couple who survived a helicopter crash were pulled to safety today then airlifted to hospital by helicopter as a precaution.
The small private aircraft crash-landed in a field close to a hotel they were making for in mid Wales at 1pm.
Staff from Lake Vyrnwy Hotel, near Llanwddyn, Powys, were quickly on the scene 100 yards away.
They led a man and a woman, both in their 30s, away from the scene moments before the helicopter burst into flames.
The couple waited at the hotel until the arrival of paramedics at which point they were airlifted from the scene by helicopter.
Anthony Rosser, manager of the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel, said that staff went to the aid of the couple.
They found the man and woman able to stand but they were obviously "shocked".
"They were basically walking wounded. We got them away from the scene by car and took them to the hotel."
He said the aircraft was a private helicopter which had been heading for the hotel's landing pad.
He said they were airlifted to Shrewsbury Hospital by an RAF Valley helicopter, "probably as a precaution".
Rosser said he was unaware whether the couple had been booked into the mid Wales hotel.
He added that the luxury country house hotel and spa, with views over Lake Vyrmwy, has its own dedicated landing pad.
As a result it was not uncommon for an aircraft to call in for coffee and cakes.
He said he believed the couple had been airlifted to hospital as a precaution.
A spokesman for the Welsh Ambulance Service confirmed that the couple had been taken to hospital by helicopter.