Exmouth cliff "crumbled" under 16 year-old girl

Boy initially helps her from sea onto a ledge, whist TWO helicopters and lifeboat rush to scene

The girl who fell 60-feet from Orcombe Point, Exmouth on Friday night had been sitting admiring the moon with friends when the cliff face gave way, causing her to drop feet first, initially to an overhang, and then straight to the bottom.

Exmouth's inshore lifeboat reached Orcombe Point within eight minutes of being called just before 10pm on Friday when the emergency began. By the time crews reached her, she been helped in agony from the water by a friend and onto  a ledge, where she was given first air by crew members whilst the lifeboat returned to base to pick up a team from South West Ambulance and an another crew volunteers who's an emergency doctor.

With more pain relief given to the girl, she was then immobilised before being taken from the ledge by stretcher onto the beach. It proved to be a complicated rescue. Crowds had formed on the beach below, which needed to be cleared for a coastguard helicopter which had flown from South Wales to land.

The girl was winched into this aircraft, which took her a short distance to Exmouth's football pitch where a Devon Air Ambulance was waiting to fly her to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth for specialist care.

Crew volunteer Roger Jackson was one of the first on the scene, says: "We found the girl in extreme agony, in a crumpled mess. She had been joined by a friend who had run down the steps and entered the water in order to reach her. Together they had somehow moved up to a ledge to stay higher than the tide, until help arrived. We would like to thank him for assisting her to a place of safety and saving her from a worse situation with an incoming tide.  

‘With the recent long warm weather, our Jurassic cliffs are very dry and prone to splitting and creating rock falls. It is not only dangerous for walkers at the top, it is also dangerous for people sitting on beaches beneath. We would encourage people not to take the risk of going near the edge – keep to the marked footpaths and enjoy our beautiful coastline from a safe distance."