Torsten Deal and his mum Carol Deal. Torsten, aged 15, had a narrow escape after falling down a 50ft cliff in a disused quarry

A teenager who cheated death after plummeting 50ft from a clifftop has told of his harrowing, adrenaline-fuelled ordeal.

Torsten Deal thanked emergency services who came to his rescue.

The 15-year-old - a Hadlow College student - fell through an overhang at the top of a chalk quarry near his home in Pilgrims Way, Detling, yet saved himself by clinging on to bracken growing halfway down - and incredibly managed to dial 999 while clinging on for his life.
“I just really didn’t want to die,” he said.

"i was very scared - but i was full of adrenaline - just trying to hang on for dear life" – torsten deal

“I was very scared - but I was full of adrenaline - just trying to hang on for dear life.”

The ordeal began last Tuesday evening, June 19, when Torsten stormed off into the hills after an argument with his brothers, and accidentally wandered on to the quarry site.

“I didn’t know I was on an overhang,” he said. “I was throwing rocks down into the quarry, just trying to vent some frustration, when the overhang gave way, and I just fell straight down."

The youngster fractured his ankle and only just managed to tell the operator where he was - because shortly afterwards the chalk gave way again and he dropped his phone.

Another fall followed and Torsten grabbed some bracken.

Officers found him clinging on to vegetation and threw him a tow rope from their vehicle so he could hold on until firefighters arrived with a specialist ladder.