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Campaigner Hurt After Dinghy 'Rammed By Navy'

Greenpeace says one of its activists has been seriously injured after a dinghy was rammed by the Spanish Navy in the Atlantic Ocean.

The environmental campaign group was protesting against oil exploration near the Canary Islands when activists boarded inflatable dinghies and headed towards a drilling vessel.

Video released by the group appears to show Spanish authorities responding by launching their own boats which collided with those driven by the activists.

The group claims a 23-year-old woman from Italy was knocked overboard with a broken leg before being airlifted to hospital where she is in a stable condition. Another activist was treated for minor cuts.

A statement posted on Greenpeace's website said : "We're thankful that no one else was seriously injured, and outraged at the unjustified use of force.

"The Spanish authorities reacted violently - deliberately ramming the boats and putting the lives of peaceful activists at risk."

The Spanish defence ministry said the navy believed the activists were trying to board oil exploration vessel Rowan Renaissance, and had moved in to halt the Greenpeace boats.

"In the events that followed an activist from the ecologist organisation fell in the water and was seriously wounded when she hit a propeller of one of Greenpeace's boats," the defence ministry said.

The Greenpeace activists arrived in the area on the group's Arctic Sunrise vessel - taking part in its first campaign since it was boarded by Russian authorities during a protest opposing oil drilling in the Arctic in 2013.

Twenty-eight crew members and two journalists on board the ship were held for three months in Russian detention centres.

Two of those crew members are believed to have been taking part in the protest near the Canaries.