Rotherham boy survives in roof plunge drama

AN eight-year-old football fan who plunged more than 20ft onto a concrete floor after attempting to retrieve his football from a factory roof escaped with just cuts and bruises

Cameron Shaw plummeted like a stone when a plastic roofing panel gave way as he crawled across it to reach the ball.

Miraculously, he landed on his feet and was not badly hurt.

But his parents are warning other youngsters not to go to the same lengths, as they could be risking their lives.

Cameron’s relieved mum Lisa (37) said: “Sometimes the risks are too high. It’s not worth it for a game of football.”

His dad Dean said: “He could have been killed. I feared the worst when his friend rushed in and told me what had happened.

“When I went outside, all I could hear was Cameron shouting for help.”

Cameron had been playing football in the back garden at his home on Osborne Road,

Kiveton Park, when his friend kicked the ball onto the roof of the neighbouring building.

The Anston Brook Primary School pupil scaled a stack of tyres and a wall to get onto the roof before he fell through the panel, which was designed to let light into the factory unit, and onto the floor of the metal fabricating works.

Dean (37) said: “They had been playing in the back garden and the next thing I knew Cameron’s friend ran in and said that Cameron had fallen through the roof.

“I knew what a big drop that was and if Cameron had fallen onto any of the machinery inside he could have been very seriously injured, or worse.”

After rushing outside, Dean climbed onto the roof himself.

“I shouted down and Cameron said that he had scraped himself but was all right,” he said.

“I could see he was really shaken though. “He was as white as a sheet.”

Dean borrowed a neighbour’s set of ladders to get Cameron out of the locked building when the incident occurred at around 6.45pm last Thursday.

The youngster was rushed to Bassetlaw Hospital but was uninjured.

Lisa said: “Cameron had never been on the roof and will never go on there again. He’s had to learn the hard way.

“When I asked him why he had done it he said that the ball was his brother’s and he would have killed him if he didn’t get it back.”

Cameron said: “My mum’s told me never to climb again. It was quite scary. My friend kicked the ball up there. It wasn’t a very good shot.”