Elderly Australian man rescued after cliff fall in Cornwall An 80-year-old Australian man out for a nature ramble has had a lucky - and thorny - escape after he plunged 30 metres off a cliff in Cornwall. The octogenarian was saved when his clothing caught on brambles, sparking a dramatic rescue operation which involved the coastguard, yachtsmen and a British Naval warship. Rescuers say the man slipped off a cliff path in Mount Edgcumbe Country Park where he had been walking but narrowly avoided falling down the last vertical drop onto sharp rocks when his clothes became snagged. Passing yachtsmen heard the man's cries for help and raised the alarm about 11.30am (local time) on Wednesday. Emergency workers, coastguards and Ministry of Defence Police rushed to the scene, where they found the elderly man slowly slipping towards the vertical drop. Brixham Coastguard requested urgent help from the Defence Police Marine Unit at HM Naval Base Devonport, Plymouth, and vessels on warship escort in Plymouth Sound answered the call, according to a police spokesman. "They lowered him to the rocks below where a team from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency administered first aid," the spokesman said. The injured man was placed on a stretcher and transported across Plymouth Sound on the MoD Police RIB to a waiting ambulance at Mill Bay. The man suffered cuts, abrasions and a bruised back but is not believed to be seriously injured. Inspector Gordon Peter, the marine unit commander, praised his officers for saving the walker from "serious injuries." The man's identity has not yet been released.