Tourists warned over dangerous pictures on UK cliff

Posted by Anita Froneman on 7 September 2020

Birling Gap, part of the famous Seven Sisters chalk cliffs in the UK, is one of the longest stretches of undeveloped coastline on the south coast. However, this cliff is slowly but surely crumbling due to erosion.

A recent photo showing a tourist posing near the edge of the cliff led authorities to issue renewed safety warnings.

‘It does look fine from the top but what [people] can’t see – as we do from the lifeboats – [is] how it’s underpinned,’ senior officer of The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Mark Sawyer told BBC.

‘They can’t see the erosion underneath them. There’s some huge holes underneath the earth and the grass up there. There’s no chalk at all. It’s a matter of time before those cliffs go.’

Several tourist pictures have been criticised on social media due to their unsafe proximity to the cliff edge, despite warnings.

The cliffs are a popular natural attraction that provide beach access as well as over 200 hectares of open chalk grassland for walks and picnics.

Image credit: Twitter/TheWordOfErynn

 






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