A journalist who helped save a man's life during an ill-fated hot air balloon expedition is to receive an award for bravery.

Susie Weldon, culture editor at the Western Daily Press, travelled with adventurer David Hempleman-Adams as he attempted to fly over Mount Everest in a hot air balloon last September.

During the trip a member of their party collapsed and, with no medical support, Susie and her colleagues were told they must get Brian Price down the mountain or he would die.

Risking their lives, the team managed to get him to a hospital.

Susie, David, and Robert Uhlig, a Daily Telegraph journalist, are all to receive a bronze medal from the Royal Humane Society for their heroics.

Susie said: "I was really chuffed when I was told I had got the award. It was a real surprise, but I don't think I did anything other than a normal person would have done.

"The person who most deserves this award certainly is David Hempleman-Adams. The rest of us were just jumping around trying to help him and doing what he asked us to do to get Mr Price down."

Brian, a 65-year-old businessman, had collapsed with a lesion to his pulmonary artery.

The accident happened high up Everest. Three American doctors who had been with the team had returned home in the wake of the September 11 tragedy two days earlier.

Brian has since made a full recovery.

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