British girl escapes as car plunges over cliff

An 11-year-old girl had a narrow escape when she jumped from a moving car moments before it plunged over a cliff at a campsite in north Wales, rescuers said today.

The girl accidentally disengaged the handbrake while she sat in the car listening to music on Saturday on the island of Anglesey, 240 miles (385 km) northwest of London, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said.

She threw herself clear a few feet from the edge of the cliff before it fell onto rocks 250 feet (76 metres) below and sank under the water.

"It was an unbelievably close thing," said Dave Massey, an RNLI spokesman. "To walk away with only minor injuries is a miracle." The girl, who lives in Wales and was on a camping holiday, was taken to hospital where she was treated for minor cuts and bruises.