Three teenagers have been seriously injured in a sledging accident.

Dan Lewis, 17, Scott O'Malley, 18, and Vince Ruocco, 18, were hurt after travelling down a steep hill at The Devil’s Dyke on a body board.

Vince, of Langdale Road, Hove, is still being treated in Brighton’s Royal Sussex County Hospital for internal bleeding near his kidney and a broken arm.

Dan, of Glebe Villas, Hove, was left with a fractured pelvis and Scott, of Varndean Road, Brighton, broke his collar bone after their board hit a rock.

The friends have both now been released from hospital.

The accident on Monday just before 9.30pm sparked a dramatic rescue by members of St John Ambulance, South East Coast Ambulance Service and a Sussex Police helicopter.

The friends had already travelled down the steep slope laying on top of each other on the board, but on their second attempt realised they were heading towards a rock.

Dan said: “At the last minute we suddenly saw it and I think we must have turned slightly so our heads didn’t hit it, but we still slid into it.

“While we were waiting for the emergency services we were just lying there for a couple of hours trying to keep warm.

“We are so lucky we had other people with us. They helped to keep us warm and talked to us to keep us awake.

“We were so relieved to see the lights of the ambulance and helicopter.”

Sam said: “We definitely feel really lucky. If that had been our heads we could have died.”

The friends said they would like to thank all of the emergency services involved and other people in the area who helped.