Scout dies after 60ft ravine plunge

AN 11-YEAR-OLD boy died after plunging 60ft down a cliff at a Scout camp where he was spending the weekend.

Scott Fanning slipped and fell into a ravine last Saturday while he was on an early morning walk with other boys at the Ashworth Camp at Heywood, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester. He was transferred from the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital to Hope Hospital, Salford, with head and back injuries but died later, with his parents at his bedside.

Police said that the accident had been investigated but there were no suspicious circumstances.

A number of Scout troops were at the camp site for a weekend to celebrate 90 years of the Scout movement. Boys on the walk ran to flag down a passing motorist and Scott was treated by paramedics who climbed down to reach him on rocks where he had fallen.