A difficult rescue of three critically ill teenagers on the cliffs at Porthleven has led to a national award for those involved.

Cornwall Air Ambulance's critical care team were presented with the Incident of the Year award for what was described as an "incredibly difficult rescue."

The Association of Air Ambulance Awards, held in London last night, heard how critical care paramedics Thomas Hennessy Jones and Stuart Croft were sent to an incident on May 4 this year, which was the night of the Porthleven Masked Ball.

Three teenagers had fallen from a cliff and had to be airlifted from the beach, in the dark, on the incoming tide.

Thomas, who picked up the award on behalf of everyone involved in the rescue, said: “This was certainly one of the most challenging incidents our team has been involved in.

"Whilst the award recognises the critical care we delivered to the patients, it reflects the work that a whole team of people did to ensure three teenagers were safely moved from the beach that night and transported to hospital as quickly as possible."

Falmouth Coastguard had received a distress call from one of the men who had fallen 30 feet down a cliff at Porthleven beacon, known as Beacon Crag, with coastguard teams from Porthleven, Penzance and Mullion also attending the scene just after midnight, along with the all-weather lifeboat from Lizard Lifeboat Station.

The coastguard helicopter transferred the critical care paramedics and several coastguard rescue officers to the base of the cliff to rescue the casualties, who were then airlifted to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

It was one of three awards picked up by the trust at the national ceremony, held annually to celebrate the work of air ambulances across the UK.

Kevin McGall, who has worked for the lifesaving charity for a decade, was awarded Air Operations Support Staff Member of the Year, having turned his hand to creating sets for the air ambulance summer balls, setting up stands at Royal Cornwall Show and looking after the maintenance of all six charity shops.

Paula Martin, chief executive of Cornwall Air Ambulance, received the Chairman’s Award 2019 for the work she carried out as the previous chair of the Association of Air Ambulances, as well as her role within the wider air ambulance sector.