Boy rescued after Newton Aycliffe shopping centre fall

Image source, County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue

Image caption, Firefighters smashed through this wall to rescue the boy

A teenage boy is "unbelievably lucky" to be alive after he fell 30ft from a shopping centre roof and got trapped in a cavity between two buildings.

Firefighters smashed through the wall of a shop at the Thames Centre in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, to free the 13-year-old at about 19:30 GMT.

He had become trapped in the 1.6ft-wide cavity three hours earlier.

The boy, who sustained a broken ankle, has been taken to Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital.

Incident commander Rob Cherrie, of County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue, said the boy had been on the phone to his mother at the time of the fall.

He added: "We used cutters, grinders and hammers. Essentially you had the cladding then the plasterboard through to the breezeblocks and external bricks.

"We managed to get some oxygen down to him and reassure him. By the time we got to him he was very cold and very tired."

Image source, County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue

Image caption, Police and fire services were called to the scene