The plane crashed on Ingleborough's south-eastern slopes, above Gaping Gill

Mountain rescuers pulled two men from the wreck of a light aircraft that crashed on a Dales fellside.

The pilot and his passenger were injured when their Cessna plane flew into the side of Ingleborough, one of Yorkshire’s Three Peaks.

Two rescue teams, from the Clapham-based Cave Rescue Organisation and Kendal Mountain Rescue Team were alerted by police at 9.20pm yesterday, Monday.

Initial reports of the crash location were confused, with one placing it near Rathmell in North Yorkshire and another suggesting the site might by on the Howgills or Leck Fell in Lancashire.

The pilot, a 55-year-old man from Blackpool, suffered minor injuries and his passenger, a 31-year-old Blackburn man, sustained a broken nose and ankle in the crash.

A spokesperson for the Cave Rescue Organisation, which carries out mountain and pothole rescues, said a search by police and RAF helicopters eventually narrowed the location down to being near the 723m (2,372ft) summit of Ingleborough.

“CRO, with assistance from Kendal MRT, carried out a search of the area in poor visibility, and with the help of the Search and Rescue Dogs Association found the crashed aircraft high of the south-eastern slope of Ingleborough,” the spokesperson said.

“Following treatment by team doctors for chest and leg injuries both casualties were stretchered down to Trow Gill and transported off the hill in the early hours of Tuesday morning for transfer to road ambulances waiting in Clapham.”

The aircraft had left Blackpool airport at 7.18 yesterday evening and was heading for the North-East. The pilot himself reported the crash.

The men were taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary for further treatment.

Members of the CRO were on the fellside again this morning guiding police and members of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to the site. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the Civil Aviation Authority are expected to visit the scene.