A nine-year-old girl had a miracle escape after she was flung 15ft through the air after coming off a white-knuckle fairground ride at a dizzying 50mph.
Yasmin Vickery was rushed to hospital after she slammed into a metal safety barrier when she was catapulted out of the stomach-churning ride in front of horrified mum Kim.
The youngster was treated for a suspected broken neck following the accident on November 3 but incredibly escaped with severe bruising.
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Mobile phone video footage taken by mum Kim, 41, shows the moment Yasmin flew off the ride at the Hollowell Steam Rally and Heavy Horse Show in Northampton.
A bone-crunching thud can be clearly heard on the clip as pretty Yasmin was slammed into a metal fence.
The film shows the emergency button being pressed and the ride grinding to a halt while a frantic Kim can be heard asking “Where’s Yasmin?”
Kim, a company secretary, described the distressing moment she feared her daughter was dead.
She said: “Yamsin had been on the ride with her little cousin Kya and the bar came up, as she went to lean to pull it back she came flying off.
“She spun into the air because it was going so fast, then you could hear this almighty thud. She had gone flying through the barrier
“I was filming the ride and didn’t notice until the ride stopped what had happened, we were laughing and joking at the time.
“But then I just saw my little girl in a heap over the other side. My six-year-old daughter Talisha who had been watching was in tears, she was petrified – she thought her sister was dead.
“When I ran across and Yasmin said she couldn’t feel her legs – I thought she was paralysed, she could have quite easily have died but she took the brunt of the force on her side rather then her head.
“The impact was sideways, but the paramedics said if she had gone through head first she probably wouldn’t be here.
“It’s been every mother’s worst nightmare but I know she is very lucky and it could have been so much worse.
“Most people wouldn’t survive a car crash at that speed, let alone being thrown through the air off a ride.”
Married mum-of-three Kim, from Sevenoaks, Kent, is now calling for safety checks to be made on the ride – which is believed to be run by a travelling family from Northampton.
Kim added:”My concern is if that particular fair ride goes elsewhere the it could happen again.
“Its pure negligence.”
Yasmin is still bed-bound, and has been vomiting due to the impact her kidneys took in the accident.
The youngster said: “It really hurts. I’m not going back to school for a week or more. I can’t put any weight on one leg.”
The incident was attended by the police and ambulance service and is now the subject of a health and safety investigation.
Detective Sergeant Gavin Suttie, from Northamptonshire Police, said: “We attended an incident in Hollowell, where a nine-year-old girl suffered injuries as a result of falling off an amusement ride.
“She was admitted to Northampton General Hospital with internal bruising and was released on Sunday. The Health and Safety Executive has been informed and will be assisted by police in the investigation.”
A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said: “The HSE is aware of the incident and is currently making initial inquiries.”
Nobody from the fairground was available for comment.
