A 14-YEAR-old boy has been airlifted to hospital with leg injuries after being rescued from rocks near a lighthouse.

Whitby Coastguard Team said it was alerted to a young casualty on the shoreline near the Victorian Whitby High Light, south-east of the town, at 2.15pm on Monday, and were guided where he had slipped on rocks by his parents.

Due to the difficulty in reaching the boy, Whitby RNLI lifeboat and a Coastguard rescue helicopter were called.

After the lifeboat crew stabilised the child, Coastguards relocated to the Abbey Plain at Whitby to prepare a helicopter landing site in the event of R912 needing to land to transfer the casualty to land ambulance.

A Coastguard spokesman said a thorough assessment concluded the boy had ankle injuries and the decision was made to transport him to James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, in the helicopter.

Staithes and Redcar Coastguard Team members and a senior coastal operations officer from Hartlepool attended the landing site at the hospital.

He said: "This was an excellent example of close multi-agency working between ourselves and our colleagues in the RNLI.

"We wish the casualty a speedy recovery. Well done to all involved today."