WALKERS took their lives in their hands by sitting on the edge of a cliff, days after a major collapse.

Raphael Ruz was walking near Beachy Head with friends on Tuesday when he saw the two young women in the distance.

One of the women was sitting, teetering over the cliff edge with the sea hundreds of feet below.

It comes after the cliff at nearby Birling Gap collapsed on August 5.

Mr Ruz, from Brighton, said walkers at the beauty spot were ignoring the warning signs not to approach the cliffs and said the two

people in his picture were warned by others not to take the risk.

He said: “I couldn’t believe what I saw.

“There are signs everywhere saying don’t go near to the cliffs, but people still have the stupidity to take these risks. It is crazy to do that.

“They were taking their lives into their own hands, it was really scary. Part of the cliffs collapsed not so far from there very recently. People need to be warned not to do that.”

Mr Ruz’s concerns were echoed by HM Coastguard duty controller Kaimes Beasley.

He said: “In the last few weeks, we’ve been sent numerous alarming photographs of people on cliff edges and also responded to an increased number of call-outs where people have got into difficulty on cliffs.

“It’s very clear that cliffs are very unstable in places.

“We really can’t stress enough how important it is to keep back from the edge. There is no ‘safe’ place to be.”