Updated - adds man's medical condition

A medical team and rescuers late yesterday performed a difficult operation to rescue a man who fell down a cliff at Ghajn Tuffieha Bay.

The man, 31, who had been with a group of friends, ended up on the rocks close to the sea below the tower.  Rescuers had a difficult task to locate him and reach him across the difficult terrain in darkness.

He was eventually given first aid on site by a Mater Dei medical team and Civil Protection rescuers.

A patrol boat was deployed but the man, a foreigner, was hoisted from the site on an AB212 helicopter of the Italian Military Mission which then landed on the top of the cliff to pick up a doctor. It then flew to  Mater Dei Hospital, where it arrived shortly before midnight.

The police said the man suffered head injuries and is in critical condition.