Girl tells of cave tragedy

A Bridgnorth teenager seriously injured in a cave collapse which killed her friend, today spoke of her "complete devastation" over the accident.

Jess Wright, of The Hobbins, was camping with Aiden Brookes, 16, and a group of about 20 friends on Sunday night at the Hermitage Caves in the town when the tragedy happened.

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The 18-year-old was only told about Aiden's death yesterday to save her from further distress. Jess, who attends Oldbury Wells Sixth form in Bridgnorth, described how she was standing in the small cave near Aiden who was asleep on the floor just before the accident.

She said all of a sudden rocks just started to fall and she was hit on the head, neck and back and fell to the ground.

Jess said friends quickly pulled her and Aiden, of Paulbrook Road, Bridgnorth, outside and she was moved onto the grass where she could not breathe and fell unconscious.

Jess said: "When I woke up my friends were with me and had put coats around me and I was asking about Aiden. I was suggesting things to do to help him.

"I heard them saying he had no pulse and wasn't breathing but then they said he was breathing again. I knew he was a lot worse off than me."

Jess was admitted to Telford's Princess Royal Hospital and was released last night with cuts and bruises and broken bones in her foot.

She said: "I kept asking about him but no-one would tell me in A&E so as not to upset me.

"My friends kept saying they didn't know which hospital he was in when I asked. They must have been so upset to tell me.

"I am completely devastated. I had known Aiden nearly four years, through school and the Air Training Corps. I sat next to him in chemistry and had been ice-skating with him and his friends.

"We were pretty close. He didn't deserve this. He was so bright and bubbly, he sung along with me when I sung in lessons, and was always making jokes, he was never unhappy.

"He had had a girlfriend for four years and she has been told."

Jess said she had been camping at the site since she was 13 but it was the first time she had been there with Aiden. She said generations of young people had been there, including her mum. She said: "It's somewhere private we go in the holidays to talk and hang out.

"We weren't inside a big cave, it was just a cove and we didn't realise how fragile the stone was. Someone had built a big fire, and if it hadn't been so big there would have been more people in the cove."

Jess said Aiden had been walking around and getting to know people he had not met or did not know well just half an hour before the accident.

She said Aiden had been with the Bridgnorth ATC for about four years and he really enjoyed it. He played in the ATC band and was planning on going to Disney World this October to perform in a parade and represent the UK.

Jess hopes to go to university in September to study to be a nurse in the RAF.

Exclusive by Catherine Roche

See also - Teen tells of cave horror