Schoolboy Cameron Hobday has a holiday adventure to tell - after plunging 30ft down a quarry at an Army barracks.

The 12-year-old from Gillingham was airlifted to a London hospital after a bike ride with two mates ended up with him falling down a gaping hole sparking a major emergency operation.

While Cameron lay in agony on the concrete floor, his friend Liam McLaughlin, 12, climbed down a ladder to keep him calm while James Driver, 14, dialled 999.

Watch emergency services lift Cameron out of the quarry

Meanwhile, a man called Steve Ferguson, who was in his garden and witnessed the drama, called mum Tania Hobday who raced to the scene with her daughter Chloe, aged six.

When she arrived she saw her son screaming in pain as firefighters scaled down to rescue him with paramedics on standby.

Miraculously, Cameron, a Brompton Academy pupil, did not suffer any serious injuries and, after tests and scans, was discharged from King’s College Hospital the following day.

He has cuts and bruises, and is wearing a support for a suspected sprain.

Mrs Hobday, 34, said: “Nobody told me how deep the quarry was because they did not want to panic me. When I saw him lying there I was in shock. I know they should not have been in the barracks, but boys will be boys.

“He won’t be doing anything like that again. I still don’t know whether to punch him or kiss him.”

Cameron set off on his bike from his home in Saxton Street, Gillingham, meeting up with Liam and James before riding off to the Kings Bastion area of Brompton.

Cameron said: “We saw a hole in the fence and decided to explore. I suppose it was a bit of an adventure, but I won’t be going back there or getting on my bike again too soon.”

Mrs Hobday said: “I feared the worst. I think he was taken to King’s as a precaution because he was complaining of backache. Cameron has never been to hospital or been injured before and it was a real eye-opener seeing how the firefighters and paramedics worked so well under pressure as a team.

“I would like to say a big thank you to everyone, including Cameron’s friends and Steve who stayed with him all the time. Also the wonderful staff at King’s who looked after him so well, especially before I arrived by car about an hour after he got there.”

Attempts to contact the Minsitry of Defence and Brompton Barracks have been made.

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