Men survive plunge over cliff

The driver of the BMW, which went over the cliff top at Cayton Bay, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire, had to be lifted to safety by an RAF helicopter after emergency services launched a full-scale rescue operation.

Police, fire crews, the coastguard and the North York Moors search and rescue team were involved in the dramatic operation in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The passenger managed to leap out of the car before it careered over the edge, but rescuers needed a specialist thermal imaging camera to try and locate a heat source in the undergrowth to find the driver.

The man, in his 20s, is thought to have wandered away from where the car came to rest. He was eventually discovered about 300ft down and an Air Sea Rescue helicopter from RAF Leconfield was needed to winch him to safety on a stretcher.

Assistant divisional officer Tony Dyer, of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "This man is very lucky to be alive. By wandering away from the scene of the accident he made the task of locating him very difficult indeed.

"In addition to the original danger he may have, in his confused state, lost his footing and fallen to the bottom of the cliff. Also, his position was partly masked from the thermal imaging equipment by the dense undergrowth on the cliff side.

"All the time his body was losing heat and I believe that if all the emergency services hadn't undertaken such a co-ordinated effort we could have been looking for a body."

The driver was found at about 1.30am and was suffering head and facial injuries, shock and hypothermia. Both men involved in the accident were recovering in Scarborough District Hospital yesterday and their injuries were not serious.

Mr Dyer added: "The message to be taken from this is that if you are involved in a road accident in a remote location, keep warm and remain in the vehicle. A three-quarter ton vehicle is a lot easier to locate than a person."