100ft cliff fall for Marlow 16 year-old (From This Is Local London)

100ft cliff fall for Marlow 16 year-old

7:00pm Friday 3rd July 2009 in

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A TEENAGER from Marlow plunged close to the bottom of a 100ft cliff in Cornwall where he lay unconscious for up to twelve hours with a broken neck and fractured skull.

Sir William Borlase's School pupil Mark Chapple, 16, was spotted by sea kayakers on Tuesday near the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay and is in serious condition following the fall.

He was rescued by helicopter after Falmouth Coastguard received a call around 11.50am.

Mark, who was found unconscious but breathing, also broke his wrist and had various cuts and bruises.

Falmouth Coastguard's cliff team, comprising ten to 12 volunteers, attended the scene along with an in-shore lifeboat, ambulances a chopper crew and police.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman Mark Clark said: “The report we had back was that it would appear that he had gone over the cliff during the night and it would appear he had been there for some time.

“It looks as if he had fallen 70 to 80 feet onto rocks. They put a collar on him to bring him up without causing further damage to him.”

A helicopter winchman dropped to the spot where Mark lay and placed him on a stretcher.

He was transported by helicopter to Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske, Truro where he is still Mark had been with friends the night before, Devon and Cornwall police said.

Police spokesman Joe Head said: “He had been out with friends about 11.30 the night before and the following day he was found at the bottom of the cliff with serious injuries to his head.

“He had a broken neck and wrist, cuts and bruises, a puncture to his chest and a fractured skull.

“He had no recollection of how he came to be there at the bottom of the cliff.”

He said these kind of accidents were not uncommon to happen to tourists.

Police are investigating how and why he fell but said they did not believe there was anything suspicious about it.

An 18 year-old man from Oldham, Lancashire, died after a fall in nearby cliffs in Newquay just three days earlier after celebrating the end of his exams.

www.mcga.gov.uk