Police have been left baffled after finding no trace of a man who fell off a cliff, before appearing to get up and run away.
Emergency services were called to Hengistbury Head in Dorset on Monday by members of the public who reported seeing a drunk man stumbling around at the cliff edge before falling over the some 100ft drop.
Yet incredibly, upon arrival there was no sign of the man, with crews even searching the surrounding area by helicopter without being able to track him down.
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"Tasked at 1616 hours by the joint rescue coordination centre to reports of what appeared to be an intoxicated male over the cliff at Hengistbury Head," Southbourne Coastguard wrote on social media following the incident.
"With a quick check of the cliff face from Double Dykes with binoculars to see if any other casualties were in difficulties and with the NPAS helicopter now above nothing was found."
Dorset Police later confirmed to the coastguard that the man appeared to have 'self-recovered and departed the scene' before help could arrive.
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According to the coastguard 'several members of the public' approached crews having apparently seen the man go over the cliff, but there still appears to be little indication as to who the intoxicated man was, how he survived the fall unscathed, and where he went afterwards, with no one having come forward to say that they took a tumble over the cliff, which is located near Bournemouth.
There have been a number of accidents at Hengistbury Head over the years, and it's not the first time someone has had a lucky escape at the coastal beauty spot, after a dog walker also managed to survive a fall from the cliff back in 2015. The woman who fell in that incident remained conscious and was airlifted to hospital with suspected back injuries, with coastguards saying she was extremely lucky not to have been killed.
"It is an absolute miracle that she survived the fall, let alone escape just with back injuries. It could have been so much worse," a spokesperson for the Mudeford lifeboat crew said at the time.
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That incident led the RNLI to issue a warning for locals to stay away from the edge of cliffs, especially when with animals or children.
"There are not many people that can survive a tumble down a 100ft cliff," Pete Dadds, an RNLI crew member, said.
Topics: UK News
Hannah Smith