Horrified witnesses watched children dice with death on the narrow ledge of a railway viaduct.
Three youngsters, thought to be aged around 11 or 12, were spotted shuffling along the Old Colwyn archways in North Wales at around 50ft above the road below.
Craig Sheehan, who spotted the trio on Wednesday, said: ‘It’s a miracle no one fell.
‘Between 4.30pm and 5pm, a group of schoolchildren climbed up the bank towards the train track, and then proceeded to cross the archways, across a small six-inch ledge.
Three youngsters, thought to be aged around 11 or 12, were spotted shuffling along the Old Colwyn archways
‘The incident attracted a crowd of people, and cars slowed down to watch.
‘People were shouting at them to get down. In the end they calmly did so, with no apparent awareness of the danger they had placed themselves in.’
In light of the heart-stopping event, police have now stepped up patrols in the area.
Sgt Tom Prytherch said: ‘This a particularly dangerous incident which could have caused serious injury or death and also posed a danger to other members of the public.
‘This has been added to our local patrol plan for officers to check.’
He said the pictures of the youngsters have been forwarded to British Transport Police.
The children were hanging on to the bridge at a height of around 50ft
The six-arched limestone viaduct, which marks the eastern end of the promenade in Old Colwyn, was built in 1847.
Councillor Cheryl Carlisle said: ‘This shocking incident. We have repeatedly asked Network Rail to fence this area off safely, as the old, broken fencing was an accident waiting to happen.
‘The fencing was finally replaced, after years of lobbying, but it is obviously not high or strong enough.
‘We will again go back to Network Rail to ask for urgent safety works, and will also work closely with police to get the safety message across in our local schools.’
The pictures of the youngsters have been forwarded to British Transport Police
A Network Rail spokesman said: ‘Trespassing on the railway is extremely dangerous and puts lives at risk. It can cause disruption to train services directly affecting people going about their daily lives, such as getting to and from work, visiting family and travelling to hospital appointments.
‘Working with Arriva Trains Wales and British Transport Police, we do all we can to minimise disruption to passengers and we would urge people to stay off the railway and infrastructure.
‘Our engineers will be visiting this site tomorrow to make an assessment.’