A Shropshire teenager today described the moment he thought he had saved the life of Aiden Brookes after a cave collapsed on top of him.

Zakk Griffiths, 19, of Lodge Lane, Bridgnorth, desperately carried out mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the 16-year-old after pulling him out from under the rocks at the Hermitage Caves.

Aiden, a talented sportsman, started to breathe again after several minutes but stopped again when he was put into the recovery position. He died from his injuries a short time later.

Zakk, an A-level student at Bridgnorth Endowed School, was sitting around the camp fire at the Hermitage Caves on Monday morning when the roof collapsed on top of Aiden and his friend Jess Wright.

Jess, 18, was treated in Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital for serious neck and back injuries but was discharged yesterday.

Zakk, who had only met Aiden, of Paulbrook Road, Bridgnorth, for the first time on Sunday night, went to the caves to see his younger brother Haden but had stayed on after his brother went home.

“Aiden lay down to go to sleep – he was closest to the fire and there was three of us sitting on the opposite side. Then all of a sudden – it didn’t make a sound at all – the roof was on top of us,” Zakk said.

“The biggest piece of rock was on top of Aiden and had crushed him. Me and my friend carried him away into some safety.”

Zakk added: “I started CPR because he wasn’t breathing. I hadn’t done any training but did just what I had picked up. After a minute or two he actually started breathing which is probably the most memorable thing for me. He actually coughed a few times.”

Aiden was then put into the recovery position but he stopped breathing again. Zakk rolled him on to his back several times to start CPR again.

Paramedics continued CPR on the way to hospital but were unable to save him.

Zakk, along with some of his friends, helped the paramedics to carry Aiden’s stretcher down to the road before returning to help his friend Jess.

By Kirsty Smallman