A 20-year-old man is very lucky to be alive after escaping death by mere inches. A cliff near him collapsed without warning, causing a landslide. The incident happened in England.
Kieron English said that he had been walking with a friend on Saturday, January 31. The two had been walking on the Newquay coast in Cornwall. That's when part of the nearby cliff collapsed without warning. The resulting landslide buried the two friends as well as three others and two dogs as well.
They had "no way of getting out." English managed to call the police, who ultimately came to their aid.
"If we were there 30 seconds to two minutes later, I think we would have lost our lives," he said. He noted that they were only five to 10 feet away from where the cliff collapsed. The friends, along with two other groups, became stranded on a concrete pad. They were surrounded by the landslide and also the high tide from the nearby.
Cliff Collapses
He added, "Within about five minutes of us getting down there all we heard was a high-pitched squeal and we turned around and just saw the cliff collapse in front of us. I have never seen that happen before in my life. My other thought was: 'how are we going to get out?"
Matt Robins, from Newquay RNLI Lifeboats, helped rescue the groups. He said the ocean waters "weren't particularly rough, the scene where we had to evacuate the casualties from was proving difficult."
"Due to the swell rising and falling against the rocks, we had to communicate with the crew onshore and ask them to follow our precise instructions," he also added.
English is thankful to be alive.
He said, "I have never seen a cliff collapse or even a landslide ever in 20 years. I have never seen one. When we were rescued I was just thinking about getting back to land safe and felt grateful to still be alive."
