A 20-year-old woman was airlifted to hospital with spinal injuries on Tuesday after falling from the third floor balcony of a four storey block of flats in Woodford Green.

Emergency services were called at around 5.30pm to the scene, in Ray Lodge Road, where they found her on the ground at the rear of Ray Court.

She was taken to the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, by the London Air Ambulance, which landed in Ray Lodge Park, after being treated for spinal injuries at the scene.

Downstairs neighbour Kate Turpin was one of the first people to find the woman, who is thought to have only moved into the block last month.

She said: “I was in the kitchen and I could see my neighbour talking on the phone and looking down. I looked outside my door and could see a person on the ground.

“She had fallen from top to bottom and was in a dreadful state.

“When I went out there she was wailing and screaming in pain.

“She kept trying to move and get up, but I was telling her not to.

“The paramedics had to cut her clothes off to treat her.

“It took them an awfully long time to get her on to a stretcher and into the helicopter.”

Crowds from the Ray Lodge estate crowded around the helicopter as it waited to carry the woman to hospital, with many left in shock by the incident.

A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I’d heard a young girl had fallen from the top floor balcony, but I couldn’t believe she survived.

“It’s usually very quiet around here and to have something like this on my doorstep is just scary.”

Police were called by ambulance crews shortly after arriving and are continuing with inquiries, though no arrests have been made.