Fire crews who saved eight children after they got stuck at the bottom of a cliff when a beck flooded have won a mother's praise.

The children, aged between five and 15, were playing in the beck in woodland near Loftus Bank, in Loftus, east Cleveland, when it unexpectedly flooded at dusk on Sunday.

The area around it became muddy and slippery and the children were unable to climb out.

One of the boys used his mobile phone to call his parents for help, but they were unable to rescue the stranded children and called 999.

Firefighters from Loftus and Skelton were first on the scene shortly after 6pm and stayed with the children until crews with specialist equipment and training, from Coulby Newham fire station, arrived to rescue them. A paramedic was on standby but none of the children was hurt.

Paula Garbutt, the mother of ten-year-old Jamie Lancaster and his 11-year-old brother Darrell, said: "My partner and another parent went looking for the kids for an hour after they rang. But there's no way we could've got them out of the gully.

"We couldn't have saved the kids without the firefighters' help. We'd like to thank them for what they did."

A spokesman for Cleveland Fire Brigade said: "It was very dark and the children must have been very cold and frightened. It is great they had a mobile phone with them but people should not rely on them as they may not get a signal out in the countryside."

Headteacher David Parks, of Loftus Primary School, where Jamie is a pupil, said: "Fortunately, all the children are safe and it is perhaps a lesson to be learnt by children.

"I'm sure the parents are all very grateful to the rescue services who deserve praise for potentially saving these children's lives."

Mrs Garbutt said: "All the mums chipped in and we've bought a box of chocolates to say thank you to the firefighters.

"It's not very much, and I'm sure they probably spent a lot more than that on the rescue operation.

"We're really grateful to them. It was such a terrifying time for all the parents."