by MARY MAGEE
THE
POLEGLASS father of a 16-yearold boy who fell 100 feet down a
ravine at the Colin Glen Forest Park at the weekend says his son
is very lucky to be alive.
Donal Collins' son Cillein, from the Colin
Glen Road, was out walking with friends on Saturday evening when
he suddenly disappeared.
He had slid off a brick and landed beside the
river-edge but it happened so suddenly his eight friends could
not find him and had to ring his mobile.
His friends then called for help and when his
father, who works as a taxi driver, heard about his plight
rushed to his son's side until the emergency services got to
him.
Donal said: "It just goes to show what
happens to someone if you are not being careful, it is a lesson
to us all. As I sat with him waiting for the emergency services
to arrive Cillein was very frightened. There is no doubt that he
is very lucky to be alive. When they got to him he was so
grateful to be rescued.
It took the Fire and Rescue teams, paramedics a
police helicopter two hours to rescue Cillein.
The problem was getting near him because of
the density of the trees. The PSNI helicopter was dispatched to
the area and flew overhead to provide scene lighting for the
rescue teams and paramedics.
"Cillein could have been killed. He was very
lucky to be alive and just to have some injuries," said Donal.
Cillein, a pupil at La Salle school, had to do his GCSE PSHE
exam from his hospital bed on Tuesday and may have to do the
remainder of his GCSE exams at home.
His mother Janette said she was just glad
that her son was well on the road to recovery.
"Obviously someone was watching over him," she
said.
mary.magee@jpress.co.uk
Ulster Star
09/05/2008
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