Cave rave teen killed by rock

Tragic ... cop guards caves after roof collapse

A schoolboy partying in a cave was crushed to death when a huge chunk of rock fell from the roof on to him.

Aiden Brookes had been celebrating the Easter holidays at a "cave rave" with pals — drinking beer and listening to music.

But the 16-year-old and about 20 other teens were asleep around their campfire when the heat and 7ft flames dislodged a suitcase-sized lump of sandstone.

The A-level student — whose mum gave birth to her second child last week — suffered a cardiac arrest and stopped breathing.

An 18-year-old girl called Jessie was also hurt, suffering back, neck and rib injuries.

The friends called 999 and desperately tried to revive Aiden, guided by the operator.

Paramedics scaled rocks to reach Hermitage Caves in Bridgnorth, Shrops, where they took over from the "traumatised" youngsters but were unable to save Aiden.

The historic caverns are a regular haunt for local teens despite being fenced off after they began crumbling.

There are also "Danger — Keep Out" signs.

Ancient human unearthed in China

The remains include a lower jaw as well as leg bones

The remains of one of the earliest modern humans to inhabit eastern Asia have been unearthed in a cave in China.

The find could shed light on how our ancestors colonised the East, a movement that is only poorly understood by anthropologists.

Researchers found 34 bone fragments belonging to a single individual at the Tianyuan Cave, near Beijing.

Details of the discovery appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Radiocarbon dates, obtained directly from the bones, show the person lived between 42,000 and 39,000 years ago.

"For this time period, which is critical for understanding the spread of modern humans around the world, we have two well-dated human fossils from eastern Asia," said co-author Professor Erik Trinkaus, from Washington University in St Louis, US.