Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Tombstoner’ injured in plunge from cliffs near Arbroath

Youngsters tombstoning near Arbroath, where the lifeboat had to be called out.
Youngsters tombstoning near Arbroath, where the lifeboat had to be called out.

A thrill-seeking teenager was taken to hospital after leaping from cliffs near Arbroath.

Both Arbroath lifeboats were launched on Monday afternoon to assist the youngster who was struggling in the water at Seaton Cliffs.

The incident has prompted fresh warnings to youngsters considering tombstoning the dangerous practice of diving off cliffs into the sea now the warmer weather has returned.

Lifeboat operations manager at Arbroath Alex Smith said: “It’s the first time we’ve been called out to a tombstoning incident, though we know it goes on.

“We have told teenagers before that they shouldn’t jump from the cliffs. We wish they wouldn’t do it and this incident underlines how dangerous it can be.”

The youth suffered cuts and bruising to his legs and an ambulance was called for him to be taken to Arbroath Infirmary.

The inshore lifeboat launched at 1.59pm followed by the main lifeboat at 2.08pm after the emergency call said the youth was struggling to get out of the water due to a tidal swell.

However, the casualty had managed to get out of the sea by the time the lifeboat crews arrived.

“There were five or six young people at the cliffs,” Mr Smith added.

“It’s not a very good sign that we’re two days into the warmer weather and we’ve already had an incident of this sort.”

There have been several incidents nationwide where people have died or been seriously injured by tombstoning.

Police and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency previously ran a joint campaign promoting safe behaviour at the cliffs and harbour in Arbroath and showing how dangerous tombstoning can be.

The term tombstoning was adopted because of the way a person falls and plunges into deep water, in a similar way to a stone. Injuries often come when water depths, which can alter with the tide, can be shallower than they seem.

Submerged objects can also not be visible and sometimes the shock of cold water can make it difficult to swim.