A teenager has been plucked to safety in an Angus cliffs drama.
The 18-year-old sparked a full-scale rescue operation after becoming stuck halfway up a sheer 40ft cliff face at Arbroath when he went to retrieve a football.
He miraculously escaped with a minor cut and a badly bruised ego, but senior coastguard and RNLI figures involved in the operation said the incident served to highlight the treacherous nature of seaside cliffs, and with the early burst of sunny weather drawing out the crowds urged coastal visitors to respect the potentially deadly terrain.
Wednesday’s drama unfolded just before 5pm on the cliff-top at the north end of Arbroath’s Victoria Park, close to the Needle’s E’e. The teenager and a friend were walking in the area when their football rolled off the cliff path on to rocks below.
It is understood the youth tried to climb down to get the ball, but coastguard sector manager Ross Greenhill said he misjudged just how steep the sandstone cliffs were at that point, and quickly became cragfast.
”His friend was still on the top path and he raised the alarm,” added Mr Greenhill.
The emergency call sparked a turnout of coastguard teams from Arbroath and Montrose, as well as the Arbroath all-weather and inshore lifeboats. The operation was co-ordinated by the 24-hour Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre team at Fife Ness and also included RAF rescue helicopter 137 from Lossiemouth which, by good fortune, had been in the Tayside area and was very quickly on scene.
Arbroath RNLI put ashore crew member Allan Russell and he was able to scale the cliffs to reassure and assist the casualty, with coastguard cliff rescue units standing by above as the teenager was airlifted to safety on top of the cliff path.
The rescued youth, who has not been named, was taken away by police and is understood to have escaped injury.
Rescue services said the situation could have easily turned to disaster.
”He was about 20-30 feet from the water but had nowhere to go and misjudged how steep the cliffs were,” said Mr Greenhill. ”Everyone was there very quickly and the helicopter was able to literally drop him back on to the path and into our care, where apart from a little bit of medical attention to a cut, he was okay.”See Friday’s Courier for an exclusive interview with the youth at the centre of the rescue dramaThe incident drew the attention of many who were enjoying the afternoon sunshine, but the coastguard officer said conditions were turning at that point of the day.
Mr Greenhill added: ”The temperature had started to dip and there was a bit of a haar developing. The wind was starting to pick up as well and he was only wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
”Essentially the cliffs aren’t a safe place to muck about on you have got to respect them. The cliffs in that particular area are quite unstable, so it is not a good idea to be climbing down them.
”In the area where this happened we have had significant landslips in the past 12 months. He has had a lucky escape.”
RNLI mechanic and deputy second coxswain Mr Russell said the youth was just a step from tragedy.
”How he got in that position, I don’t know. He was pretty shaken up by the situation he found himself in, but did the right thing by staying there and his pal raised the alarm from the top of the cliff.”
He added: ”It was a very good combined operation with a successful outcome. By good fortune the helicopter happened to be in the area, but if that had not been the case I am confident he would have been recovered safely.
”However, one slip either way for this young lad and it could have been a very different situation, involving serious injury or possibly even a body recovery.”
Main photos by RNLI. Helicopter photo by Gill Howie