Light of our lives... anguished tribute to rock fall girl, 9
THE devastated family of a nineyear-old girl who died in a rockfall from a seaside cliff yesterday described her as “the light of our lives”.
Harriet Forster was killed when a single small stone hit her head as she played near rock pools at the base of the cliff.
Harriet, from Oxford, was enjoying a trip to the picturesque village of Staithes, on the North Yorkshire coast, with her mother when the freak accident happened.
Sobbing
Her family has paid tribute to the little girl, saying: “We cannot comprehend the enormity of this tragedy. Harriet was the light of our lives.
“We ask that you give us time as a family to support each other through our indescribable pain.”
Flowers and a candle were left in the church at Staithes yesterday with a note asking visitors to pray for Harriet and her family.
Harriet was exploring the shoreline with her mother at about 4.45pm on Wednesday when shale from the 150ft cliff fell on her.
More than 100 people were still on the sands enjoying the sunshine at the time.
Holidaymaker Katie Swart said: “They were in a little cove when a stone and a couple of tiny pieces of shale came off the cliff and hit her. It was horrible. A couple of days ago there were people with their picnic blankets sitting in the same spot.
“A local lady came out and said they shouldn’t really be sitting there but then said, ‘It’s only shingle’.”
Harriet’s mother cradled her daughter as police, paramedics, life boat crews and firemen tried to get down the remote village’s narrow cobbled high street to the beach.
The local GP was called out from his surgery at the top of the village and started CPR.
It was decided to clear the beach so that an air ambulance could land on the sand. One resident said: “The helicopter landed and two paramedics jumped out. The mother was sitting outside the pub with two police support officers, sobbing her heart out.”
The unstable cliffs are popular with fossil hunters and children regularly play and fish in the rock pools underneath.
Residents say Harriet’s death was a tragedy waiting to happen. Only a fortnight ago James Child, 55, and his son Jake, 20, had a lucky escape at the same spot.
Mr Child said: “My lad wanted his photo taken by the sea. I heard a big splash in the water and thought, ‘What’s that? That could kill someone.’ At first I thought it was some idiot throwing rocks off the cliff. But as we walked away a bucket load of shale and stones came down.
“We got out of there sharpish. It was like having a bucket load of gravel chucked at you.
“It was all in my hair when I got back to our caravan. I was shaken up but I never dreamed something would happen like what happened to the little girl.”
There is a large red warning sign set in the cliffs near the entrance to the beach but it cannot be seen at the end where the accident happened. A second warning sign is on the other side of the bay.
North Yorkshire Police are compiling a report about the circumstances of Harriet’s death for the coroner. It is not the first rockfall tragedy to happen along the British coastline.
In June 2015, Georgina Le Fjord, 23, died after she was hit on the head on a beach at Llantwit Major, between Swansea and Cardiff.
Three years earlier, 22-year-old Charlotte Blackman died after being buried by tons of rock on a beach near Burton Bradstock, Dorset.