Dog walker escapes dying ‘by inches’ after cliff collapse as he hears ‘squeal’
Kieron English, 20, was walking along a path with a friend when a section of the cliff crashed down in front of them with seconds to spare. Five people and two dogs were trapped and had to be rescued
Kieron English, 20, was strolling along a pathway
A bloke has revealed how he cheated death ‘by inches’ after barely dodging a massive cliff collapse – with just seconds to spare.
Kieron English, 20, was strolling along a pathway with mate Rian Walker when part of the cliff face came crashing down in front of them without any warning. Just minutes into their trek, they heard a “high-pitched squeal” – and spun round to witness tonnes of earth and rock tumbling down merely five feet behind them.
The duo, along with three other ramblers and two pooches, found themselves stranded “with no way of getting out” and needed rescuing by a lifeboat crew. Kieron reckons if they’d reached the spot near the Fly Cellars in Newquay, Cornwall, thirty seconds later they would have “lost their lives”.
Kieron, a delivery rider, said: “Within about five minutes of us getting down there, all we heard was a high-pitched squeal and we turned around and just saw the cliff collapse in front of us.
“I have never seen that happen before in my life. My other thought was ‘how are we gonna get out?'”.
“Then I phoned 999 to get the police and the coastguard down.
“But as we were still waiting for the coastguard and the RNLI to come down and save us we kept seeing rocks and all the earth starting to fall again.
“If we were there 30 seconds to two minutes later I think we would have lost our lives.”
Kieron, who relocated to the coastal town three months ago, was discovering the area with his pal on Saturday afternoon when the route suddenly disappeared behind them. His brother, who previously resided there, recommended a location between the Fly Cellars and the Huer’s Hut for the breathtaking ocean vistas.
Three different parties found themselves marooned together on a concrete platform with no secure escape route. The tide was far too elevated to risk swimming, whilst the cliff face proved too precarious to scale.
“I have never witnessed a cliff collapse or even a landslide in two decades. I have never seen one,” Kieron said.
“We were I would say between five or 10 feet away from the collapse.
“When we were rescued I was just thinking about getting back to land safe and felt grateful to still be alive.
“You assumed all cliffs are stable, but obviously due to the weather and mother nature none of them are ever going to be safe again.”
Coastguard crews from Newquay and St Agnes, Newquay RNLI Lifeboats, Devon and Cornwall Police and Cornwall Fire and Rescue were deployed to rescue five people and two dogs that had become trapped following the landslide.
Matt Robins, from Newquay RNLI Lifeboats, said: “Although the sea conditions weren’t particularly rough, the scene where we had to evacuate the casualties from was proving difficult.
“Due to the swell rising and falling against the rocks, we had to communicate with the crew onshore and ask them to follow our precise instructions.
“One minor slip could have seen the casualties fall into the water.”
Following their rescue, the group were brought to safety at the harbour and taken to the lifeboat station where they were given a warm drink, examined for injuries and provided guidance from one of the trained paramedic crew members.
Coastguards confirmed this stretch of coastal path is currently impassable and “the public are requested to avoid the area for the time being”.
This follows recent yellow weather warnings and two named storms that hammered the South West at the end of January, causing widespread disruption.
