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The former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage will stay in hospital and miss his election count after being injured in a plane crash.He is standing against Commons Speaker John Bercow in Buckingham but is being treated for rib and other injuries in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
His plane crashed in Northamptonshire early on Thursday, possibly after a campaign banner became entangled.
He said he was "lucky to be alive". The pilot is being treated in hospital.
Broken ribs
Mr Farage's spokesman, Duncan Barkes, said: "He is not going anywhere today. There is no way he will be at the count.
"He's got two broken ribs, a small chip to his spine and damage to his sternum."
A hospital spokeswoman said Mr Farage was likely to remain in hospital "for a few days".
In a statement, Mr Farage said of the crash, which also injured pilot Justin Adams: "We've both had a miraculous escape. We are both very lucky to be alive."
The aircraft, which was due to circle over the Buckingham constituency, came down at Hinton-in-the-Hedges Airfield near Brackley.
'Plane nose-dived'
Surveying the mangled metal of the aircraft, Det Ch Insp Martin Kinchin, of Northamptonshire Police, said: "I think you can make your own judgment as to how lucky they were.
"The people inside the plane were lucky to come out with not very serious injuries."
Describing how the crash happened, he said: "It is our belief that the plane had recently taken off from here and was manoeuvring back to the airfield."
When asked if the UKIP banner had become tangled in the aircraft, causing the crash, he said it was too early to speculate.
The white banner, which landed several hundred metres from the plane, had been attached to it previously, he confirmed.
A UKIP spokesman said the pair were trapped in the plane hanging upside down after the crash, but were "talking, conscious and breathing" during the rescue operation.
Chris Adams, Mr Farage's campaign manager, said: "Apparently the plane nose-dived. We had a banner attached to the back of the plane which basically got wrapped around the tail."
The crash is due to be investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch.
The aircraft, a PZL-104 Wilga 35A, is a Polish fixed-wing aircraft which is reportedly owned by Sky Banners, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
Mr Farage is a Member of the European Parliament, representing South East England.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.