Teenager fell 60ft from footbridge in Pelaw Woods

The 18-year-old youth was rescued from undergrowth in Pelaw Woods, Gilesgate, Durham, in a lengthy operation involving fire crews, assisted by paramedics and overseen by police.

His panic-stricken girlfriend raised the alarm when she knocked at a house in nearby St Giles Close to report the incident shortly before 10pm on Wednesday.

Paramedics from the North East Ambulance Service assessed his condition has he lay amid scrubland and rocks at the foot of the ravine, under Pelaw Bridge.

Firefighters then used a winch and pulley system to gradually bring him up the embankment from the ravine.

Stuart Thew, station manager with the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue service, said: "By the time we got to the scene the ambulance team had already put him on stretcher.

"We don't know whether he jumped or fell.

"We realised it was very steep sided and very slippery and dangerous for us to get up and down and worked with ropes and pulleys to haul him up the side of the ravine.

"He (the teenager) was lucid and was talking. He was quite annoyed with how long it was taking."

The teenager was further assessed before being taken to Durham's University Hospital of North Durham.

Although he was not believed to have suffered any fractures or other major injury he was detained for exploratory x-rays to check there was no internal damage.

A Durham Police spokeswoman said it was described as an apparent "drunken prank".

"Remarkably the injuries do not appear to have been too serious, given the circumstances," she said.

"We got as call from a resident in St Giles Close after she had a hysterical knock at the door from the 17-year-old girlfriend.

"There was quite a co-ordinated effort to get him up from where he was.

"By around 11.15pm he was on his way to hospital and, after initial assessment, it does not appear he suffered any significant injury."

The footbridge, Pelaw Bridge, leads over a ravine in the woods, between Gilesgate and the River Wear.