A van driver who had a “miraculous” escape when a huge tree fell on top of his vehicle near Mullion has spoken of how he thought he was about to die.

Electrician Jason Blight, from Hayle, was returning from a job at Mullion Holiday Park when he passed under the nearby wooded area close to Franchis Holiday Park, just before 4.30pm on Monday.

He said he heard “an almighty crack” and he could only watch as the tree fell almost in slow motion, as he desperately tried to apply the brakes.

However, it came crashing down directly on top of his van, pinning it in place. Miraculously it fell in such a way that neither the trunk nor any of the limbs came down onto the driver’s seat area, allowing him to escape with barely a scratch.

Speaking after the incident Mr Blight, a father of three girls, said: “I’m still in a little bit of shock. I had all the debris coming down around me – the cracking and smashing of the glass and the cracking of metal. I thought that was me gone. I said my prayers and all that was going through my head was my girls and my partner.”

Other drivers rushed to his aid, with one telling him: “Oh my God, I thought I was going to find a dead body.”

Another man got out a flask and poured him a coffee to help calm his nerves.

“I think someone said it was a million to one chance that a tree falls down on you – and I was the one!” added Mr Blight.

A spokesperson for the fire service, which was among the first on the scene, described it as “a miracle” that Mr Blight had not been injured.

The tree was so big that the road had been closed for the rest of the day and into Tuesday, with the van left in situ until it could be cut up – a job that was expected to take six hours.