A 15-YEAR-OLD girl who plunged 35ft down a waterfall when a gorge jump went wrong was in a critical condition in hospital last night.
The teenager, who suffered severe face and body injuries, had been preparing to jump rope-free and feet first into a 20ft-deep pool when it is believed she had second thoughts, slipped and fell down the rocks lining the waterfall at a beauty spot near Newton Stewart in Galloway.
The girl, who has not been named but comes from Carlisle, was taken by air to the intensive therapy unit at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary. Her family were at her bedside last night.
The accident happened at the Murray Monument near the Black Loch in the Galloway Hills.
The injured girl was with a team of 17 young people on a trip organised by the Abernethy Trust, the Christian outdoor adventure group.
Investigations into the circumstances of the accident were launched by Dumfries and Galloway Police, the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority and the local council's environmental health department.
The group, all from the Carlisle area, were visiting the trust's Barcaple outdoor centre at Ringford, near Castle Douglas.
The team, which included nine adult supervisors and two team leaders, had been gorge jumping in the area, part of Galloway Forest Park on Tuesday afternoon.
It is understood that the supervisors would normally carry out a thorough risk assessment before going ahead with such an activity. A life jacket is thought to have saved the girl from even greater injuries to her abdomen.
After the fall at 3.20pm the leaders shepherded the other youths away from the incident as police, paramedics and up to 12 members of the Galloway Mountain Rescue Team carried out a rescue.
A helicopter from HMS Gannet at Prestwick was summoned after it was decided it would take the mountain rescue team too long to stretcher her to safety.
Ken McCubbin, a member of the Galloway Mountain Rescue Team and one of those on the scene, said: "The message from the police was that this was a matter of life or death, to get there as quickly as we possibly can, and that the girl was deteriorating rapidly.
"I have been to enough incidents to realise it was one of those situations where you knew it was not good.
"The paramedics did a super job in ensuring that she was not going to worsen. She was unconscious throughout."
It took less that two hours to get the girl from the bottom of the gorge to the infirmary.
A spokeswoman for the Abernethy Trust would not comment on the specific circumstances.
She said: "Everyone at the Abernethy Trust is shocked and saddened by the terrible accident.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the teenager and her family."
A spokesman for NHS Dumfries and Galloway confirmed that the youngster had been admitted for treatment to critical injuries.
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