The 16-year-old girl, a pupil at Menzieshill High School in Dundee, was part of an organised group from the Dundee City Council-run Ancrum Outdoor Centre who were biking in the Rumbling Bridge area near Dunkeld, Perthshire

The pupil, who has not been named, apparently lost control of her bike, collided with Rumbling Bridge and fell on Wednesday.

Emergency services found that the girl was conscious and breathing. She is understood to have internal injuries which were not immediately life-threatening.

She was airlifted by the RAF Leuchars Search and Rescue helicopter to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

The Health and Safety Executive are to make initial inquiries before deciding whether it will launch a formal investigation.

Two years ago, an outoor activities course run by the centre was suspended due to safety concerns over “tombstoning” -- where people leap into the sea from a height -- which were being investigated by the local authority and the Marine and Coastguard Agency.

Children were seen climbing on the rocks and swimming in the water at Arbroath cliffs, in an incident experts described as “an accident waiting to happen”.

Four years ago, two youth leaders were accused of endangering the lives of nine children on a trip to another gorge in north Perthshire but escaped prosecution.

Charges of culpable and reckless conduct against the two youth workers, employed by Dundee City Council, had been dropped.

They were originally charged after taking a group of nine children, aged between 10 and 13, to a 300ft deep gorge on the River Garry, near Calvine, north of Blair Atholl, in 2004.

A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “Everyone at Menzieshill High School and the education department wishes this pupil a full and speedy recovery from her fall.

The spokesman said the accident happened when pupils were taking part in a “fully supervised outdoor activity” on a route often used for such activities.

He added: “We will co-operate fully with any external investigation and will also be carrying out our own assessment of the situation.”

Tayside Fire and Rescue
station manager Kevin Lennon described the area as “very dangerous” adding that the girl was “very, very lucky to be alive”.

“It is a very tight and narrow ravine covered in rocks. She had fallen down and been swept into the water to the other side of the bridge and into a pool where she was located.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “The patient was conscious and breathing, and suffering from cuts and bruises and complaining of stomach pains when rescue units found her.”