A fisherman hit by a "freak wave" was left with his thigh bone sticking out of his leg.

Jeremy Francis feared he would bleed to death or be swept out to sea after being smashed against the rocks and left with the grisly injury after his fishing trip almost ended in disaster.

The 61-year-old screamed in agony and cried for help for more than an hour before help came along, and even then it was another 90 minutes before he was airlifted out of the cold seawater.

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The experienced fisherman had gone angling on his own to his favourite beauty spot in Worm's Head, Rhossili, Swansea, when he was hit by the wave.

When he looked down he noticed what he thought was a stick poking our if his leg, then he realised it was his bone.

Jeremy said: "Another wave came over, then another, then another.

"The gulley was filling up and draining, trying to take me with it. I thought I was going to die."

Jeremy managed to crawl further along to try and get away from the waves but was still stuck with no-one to help him.

After an hour his cries were heard by a jogger who happened to be a doctor. The medic then went to get the coastguard to get help.

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After 20 minutes the doctor and a coastguard reached the stricken and shocked fisherman, but faced an agonising wait for the helicopter as the first one had been cancelled and another was sent from North Devon.

He said: "I was soaking wet obviously and I was getting really cold. I said to the doctor, 'You've got to get my legs out of this water' because I was shivering so much I could hardly breathe properly."

Around two-and-a half-hours after the wave had swept him off the rocks, the helicopter finally appeared and he was airlifted before being transferred to an ambulance parked nearby.

Jeremy was then taken straight to Morriston Hospital where doctors operated on his leg.

In the following week, he had two more operations and was kept in hospital for another week to recover.

As the primary carer of his 94 year-old father, who is blind and has dementia, Jeremy said he has been relying on his two brothers to help out but said it has been difficult as he still cannot walk properly.

Jeremy added that the staff at Morriston Hospital had been fantastic, but his family had failed to be able to track down the doctor that found him to thank him too.

He also said he plans to visit the coastguard office when he recovers and thank the coastguard in person for rescuing him that day.

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