The quiet Carmarthenshire village where a Chinook helicopter 'hit power lines' and crash landed

Residents of a sleepy Carmarthenshire village have recalled how their peace was shattered when an RAF Chinook helicopter landed in a nearby field after apparently hitting power cables.

A couple of hundred residents live in Llangynin, which is surrounded by farmland and only has one street in and out.

"It's a very quiet village, nothing exciting usually happens and there's not a lot going on," said 81-year-old resident John Davies.

But at around 9pm on Tuesday, July 28, that tranquility momentarily disappeared.

The electricity went off and residents rushed to their doorsteps after hearing a 'blaring' helicopter noise.

It was then that a Royal Air Force Chinook made an emergency landing in a field near the village, apparently after hitting a power line.

"We all heard it before seeing anything. It was really loud and blaring, but something sounded off, there was a sort of chuckling as the helicopter flew over the house," added Mr Davies.

"The power went off at around 8.30pm and we had an alert saying that they were trying to get it back on. It was only off for around an hour but everyone was on their doorsteps wondering what was going on."

Another resident, Elfyd Lewis, was also at home when he heard the helicopter. He said: "Everyone could hear it, it was very loud but it sounded as if the engine was failing, it didn't sound right at all."

Mr Lewis and a number of other villagers travelled to the scene around a mile outside Llangynin to ensure that no-one was injured.

Thankfully, crew members are thought to have only sustained minor injuries and they were able to land the Chinook in an empty field.

"Lucky that no-one was hurt because it could have been a lot worse. We asked the crew members if they needed anything or if we could get them some food or some fish and chips and went down later on and had tea and biscuits with them," added Mr Lewis.

A number of other residents in the village headed to the scene of the landing to offer aid to crew members, including 11-year-old Josh Palmer who saw the Chinook come down only 500 yards from his home.

"I was having food and watching TV when we looked outside and saw that the helicopter looked like it was flying too low and we could hear that there was something wrong with the propellers," said Josh.

"It sounded like the engine was failing and the propellers were wafting - I was a bit nervous that people were going to be hurt."

Josh, his mum and grandfather went to the scene of the crash and said members of the crew did not look injured and the helicopter did not look like it had been extensively damaged.

Military chiefs said the Chinook was on a training exercise at the time of the incident.Some crew members remained with the vehicle overnight to maintain its security and others were said to have stayed at a nearby hotel.

As of midday on Wednesday, July 29, the aircraft had not been recovered but a number of emergency services as well as the RAF Mountain Rescue remained at the site.

A business owner in Llangynin, who did not wish to be named, said they were contacted and asked if they would be able to accommodate crew members for the next week.

"I think it's going to be a long job because they might not know how to get it out of the field yet, but it's really secure because there are loads of police and authorities in the area," they added.

"It was just really lucky that they landed in an empty field with no animals and not near any buildings."

A number of residents also reported seeing another Chinook fly over the village and land near the scene of the downed aircraft at around 11pm on Tuesday evening.

The Chinook is described as an extremely capable and highly versatile support helicopter that can be operated from land or sea bases into a range of diverse environments, from the Arctic to the desert or jungle.