A MAJOR emergency services training exercise had to be abandoned when rescuers were diverted to an incident where two people were swept over a waterfall.

Members of the Brecon Mountain Rescue Team, Dyfed-Powys Police and the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service were holding a joint training session on the river Usk in Brecon on Sunday.

But the exercise, Operation Concordia, was cut short just before midday after the mountain rescue team were requested to assist in an operation at the waterfalls near Ystradfellte in the Brecon Beacons.

A man and a woman, who were airlifted to hospital, were seriously injured after being swept over the waterfall and falling 30 foot or nine metres.

Mark Jones, deputy team leader of the Brecon Mountain Rescue Team, said: "We abandoned Operation Concordia to attend the incident. Fortunately we had quite a few people kitted up but they were in a different river and we had to bring them out of the Usk, between Brynich and the Llanfaes Bridge in Brecon."

Kayakers, who were using the river above the waterfall, came to the assistance of the group until rescue teams could arrive, said Mr Jones.

It’s thought the couple who fell were part of a group of four who were attempting to crass the Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn waterfall.

"A female was swept away and managed to stop herself right at the top of the waterfall and a male instructor went to help her but they were both swept over."

The two other members of the group walked out of the water to a waiting ambulance and were treated for the early stages of hypothermia.

Mr Jones said the Brecon team assisted their colleagues from the Merthyr-Tydfil-based Central Beacons Rescue Team during the four hour operation.

"We worked with colleagues from the Central Beacons Rescue Team and there were lots of people working in different roles at the scene."

The volunteer rescue team chief also praised the flying skills of the helicopter pilot from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

"It was excellent flying from the pilot of helicopter 187. I would guess he was operating at the limit of his winch. The line was at the bottom of the waterfall, in a tight gorge, and the helicopter can’t go that low. It was a really difficult position.

"The guys on the ground were at risk from from falling branches and a large branch came down from the down drift of the helicopter, not near the casualty, but it’s something you’ve got to be aware of in that valley."

Ahead of the training exercise the rescue team and Dyfed-Powys Police warned people to expect to see a large emergency services presence along the Usk, from Llanfaes Bridge, and said they shouldn’t be alarmed.