A TEENAGE tourist from the US is lucky to be alive after plunging 50ft from cliffs on the edge of the North York Moors.

The 16-year-old boy, who was visiting the area with his parents from Virginia, is reported to be comfortable in the Friarage Hospital, North-allerton, where he was admitted with fractures to his pelvis and leg.

His parents called the emergency services after the youngster failed to return to the holiday cottage the family have rented in the Sutton Bank area, near Thirsk.

He had gone off on his own to explore the crags at about 7pm on Friday, but was not found until 2am on Saturday, after the Cleveland Search and Rescue Team was called in.

The injured boy attracted the rescuers' attention by shouting when he saw their torches.

They found him lying at the foot of Roulston Scar, in a difficult position between a scree of fallen boulders, trees and brambles.

Team members carried him on a stretcher down a treacherous slope to a Land Rover ambulance that had managed to negotiate a nearby footpath. A waiting ambulance took him to hospital.

"This was one of the most tricky rescues I've been involved in, due to the difficult location of the injured young man," said team spokesman Pete Mounsey.

"He is quite fortunate not to have been more severely injured or killed considering the distance that he fell.''

The teenager had fallen while trying to climb down the limestone cliff, which overlooks Thirsk.

North Yorkshire Police were called in by his parents as darkness fell and there was no sign of the boy.

The force called for help from the search and rescue team because of the remoteness of the area and the possibility that the teenager had gone rock climbing.