LONDON (Reuters) - Three British teenagers were plucked from a cliff by a coast guard helicopter after they ended up clinging to a sheer rock face 200 feet above the ground.

Onlookers who spotted the youths hanging to the cliff at the Stair Hole cove in Lulworth, in south-west England, called for help. The three lacked proper climbing equipment and were not wearing shoes. It was unclear how they ended up on the cliff.

Ground rescue teams could not reach them, but they were eventually winched to safety by coast guard rescuers in a helicopter, footage released to Reuters on Thursday showed. The incident occurred on Tuesday evening.

The Kimmeridge Coast Guard, who were involved in crowd control at the rescue, said in a Facebook post that the three were uninjured in the incident, though they were “obviously shaken”.