REECE Nesbit last night told how he owes his life to his mates when his heart stopped after he plunged 35m over a waterfall.

The 15-year-old hit his head on rocks and was floating face down in the water when his mates pulled him out and brought him back to life.

"I can only say ‘thank you’," Reece said from his Cairns hospital bed yesterday.

"We’ll be friends forever."

The ordeal began when Reece and his mates from Mossman High – Matthew Werner, 14, Alex White, 15 and Sam Gibson, 15 – were returning from a planned hike to Devil’s Thumb, about 15km north of the Mossman, on Sunday afternoon.

They took a detour to have a look at a waterfall when Reece slipped on a rock and plunged 15m to the water below.

His mates then watched in horror as his limp body slipped over the edge and down a second drop of about 20m.

Sam and Alex clambered down the cliff, while Matthew, a sprinter, ran for help and called 000.

"We could see he was unconscious," Alex said yesterday.

"The water was turning red around him," Sam said.

"Just as we got there (to the bottom of the first drop), we saw the water pushing him over the edge head first."

Reece landed face down in the water at the bottom of the second drop where he remained for about two minutes before Alex and Sam were able to pull him out.

He had a 10cm gash on his head and water in his lungs.

Sam did CPR on his mate for about 30 minutes, until Reece woke up and began to breathe without help.

"He wasn’t breathing and his heart wasn’t beating," Sam said.

"We knew he was dead.

"I did CPR for half an hour, until he spewed up water. He was making squeaks and was in a lot of pain.

"It was very traumatic and it has taken a few days to stop seeing those images."

In the meantime, Matthew had run about 2km, hurting his ankle on the way, to the bottom of the track and along the road until he was met by an ambulance.

Reece was winched from the rainforest by rescue helicopter and taken to Cairns Base Hospital for treatment before being rushed to Townsville to see neurological specialists for his head injury.

He returned to Cairns on Wednesday and was last night waiting for a transfer to Mossman Hospital. Reece is expected to make a full recovery.

The boys’ parents are proud of their sons’ efforts and said each one had been prepared for emergencies like a sprained ankle or snake bite, but no one expected the day to turn out quite like it did.

The teens last night thanked a group of nature photographers from Cairns who came to their aid during the dramatic rescue, and the emergency service crews, including the SES.

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