Meet a hero - 12 yr old boy dies saving his friend

[The Straight Story]

Boy, 12, killed on school ski trip 'saving friend'

By Richard Edwards, Aislinn Simpson and Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 3:52pm GMT 19/02/2008

A British boy died on a school trip in the Austrian Alps after plunging down a crevasse as he tried to save a friend from falling.

Hayden was trying to reach a viewing platform when he fell

Hayden Waller, 12, a pupil at The Howard School, in Gillingham, Kent, set off with three other boys on a dangerous trek up a mountain during their afternoon "freetime" at the resort of Mallnitz.

Police said that in an "adventurous spirit", they strayed from a path and Hayden, who was on his first ever skiing trip and was wearing only trainers, broke his neck after falling 30ft backwards down a ravine.

Officers said he had probably saved the life of his unnamed friend, by catching his fall.

An officer said: "His friend was standing above him when he fell and Hayden tried to catch him but both then slipped backwards. The boy that fell slid on his belly and landed in a tree after ten feet, but Hayden fell backwards for more than 30 feet, bouncing from rock to rock as he fell down the almost vertical drop."



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/19/nski319.xml

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Oh how sad

This will effect the families of both boys for a long time to come.

[Blue State Bandit]

2. And another bell rings....

God bless him and the families involved.

[Xithras]

3. Tragic. There was a 12 year old boy killed in Yosemite yesterday too.

He was hiking to upper Yosemite Falls with the Boy Scouts when he and another boy apparently took a wrong turn on the trail. They ended up on some slippery rock and he fell over 300 feet.

I'm a very athletic outdoorsman who does a lot of hiking and peak bagging in the summer, and my three kids are taking after me in this regard. I always get a bolt of cold fear when I read these articles realizing that it could have just as easily been my kid.

I've hiked to Upper Yosemite Falls with my 11 year old son before, and have gone right past the spot where that boy died yesterday. I can't imagine what the parents of either of those boys are going through right now.

[The Straight Story]

4. As I am sitting here I just heard that news story (on the radio)

Damned sad.

[fed-up]

5. there were some scary spots on upper Yosemite Falls when I was a kid-we didn't make it to top nt

[blondeatlast]

6. My son turns 11 this weekend. Oh, God. That poor, wonderful child.

Oh, god--I'm sobbing uncontrollably.