A PAIR of Gwent teenagers were "lucky to escape in one piece" after getting stuck at the top of a treacherous 150- foot cliff in the dark, police say.

Officers and paramedics pulled off a dramatic night-time rescue on The British mountain, near Talywain, on Tuesday night, after being alerted by a quick-thinking local resident.

Under torchlight, a police officer and two paramedics managed to scramble up to the terrified girls, aged 13 and 14, who had been stuck in the cold and wet for hours.

A police helicopter lit up the final part of their descent. Richard Rudge, who lives in Elizabeth Row, next to the mountain, heard the girls' desperate cries at about 7.30pm, and dialled 999.

"They were very lucky - if I hadn't gone out to my garage I wouldn't have heard them and they'd have been there all night," he said. "I'd gone out with my father to do some work and we heard the cries. We couldn't see anyone because it was pitch black, but we shouted back to let them know we'd heard."

PC Glyn Legge climbed up to the girls. "They had been up on the mountain for two hours by the time we got to them," he said. "They were very cold, very wet and very scared. "They were terrified because they couldn't find their way down, and if they made a wrong move it would be a 150ft drop.

"We led them down very slowly and carefully and it took about an hour because it was quite treacherous.

"They said they just went for a walk and kept going higher and higher. They're lucky to escape in one piece."

PC Legge said he hoped the incident would underline how dangerous the area is.