Incredible moment boy, 15, who fell 60ft off cliff while posing for pic on school trip is rescued by emergency crew
INCREDIBLE footage shows the moment a 15-year-old boy who fell off a 60ft cliff while posing for a picture was rescued by an emergency crew.
The 15-year-old was enjoying some “downtime” during the school trip to Old Harry Rocks in Studland, Dorset, when he “disappeared” over the edge.
His teachers and classmates watched in horror as he lost his footing close to the precipice.
The schoolboy landed on shingle and various rescue teams were scrambled to the scene.
But the lad sustained only a small cut to his head and some scratches on his back.
After a thorough evaluation, the student was released back to his group after being given some strong safety advice about his actions.
Coastguards said it was a “miracle” he wasn’t badly hurt in the tumble on Thursday afternoon.
Now, video footage from the Swanage RNLI crew shows the moment they arrived at the foot of Old Harry Rocks.
They point to a group of kayakers who were nearby when it happened, with one lifeboatman noticing they didn’t look “too alarmed”.
They then confirmed reports that the boy was “walking wounded”.
The boy, who has not been named, later phoned his mother to let her know he was alright.
The tide was out at the time and it is thought the boy landed on shingle that was on top of soft seaweed.
The Swanage lifeboat crew attended the scene and a volunteer found the boy below the cliffs “virtually uninjured”.
He was placed on the inshore lifeboat and taken to Knoll Beach where he was examined by ambulance paramedics and spoken to by coastguards.
Ian Brown, station officer for Swanage Coastguard, said: “The students had been briefed on not going near the cliff edge.
“But it would appear the group were having some downtime and one lad wanted a photo taken by his friend near the cliff edge.
“He went towards it, and then his friends said they just saw him ‘disappear over the edge’.
“I’d be surprised if he wasn’t a bit sore today, but everyone was absolutely amazed he didn’t have any major injuries.
“It’s that safety message we want to raise – please stay away from cliff edges.
“When we say don’t go near the cliff edge, we mean within five metres – don’t be tempted to even go near it.
“I want to share a final thank you to everyone that attended yesterday – from the local kayaking group to all the emergency services.
“I’ve been doing this for 34 years and we’ve had some miracles – this is certainly one of those.”
Mr Brown added: “He had a cut to his head and a scratch on his back but that was it. He said he landed on shingle on his side.
“We can’t quite fathom how he survived virtually uninjured.
“I spoke with him and told him he wasn’t in trouble but that we wanted to find out what had happened.
“He just shrugged it off and said he was fine. He wasn’t shocked but his teachers were telling him that he didn’t know how lucky he was.”