Lily Nichol: Teenager suffers serious injuries after paraglider crashes on her in Turkey

A 15-year-old girl suffered a fractured spine after a paraglider crashed into her as she ate lunch on the last day of a family holiday in Turkey.

Lily Nichol sustained such serious injuries in the freak accident her mother, Lyndsey Logan, initially thought she had been killed.

Ms Logan said her daughter was eating pizza when the paraglider ‘came from nowhere and just totally wiped her out’.

She added: “I thought she was dead, I was screaming.

“I was saying: ‘Where’s the ambulance?’ and ‘Lily, keep talking to us, keep talking to us.’”

Ms Logan said she was furious to see the paraglider allegedly joking and drinking with his friends after the collision at the resort of Oludeniz in south-west Turkey.

The teenager had been due to fly home to Chester-Le-Street, County Durham, with her mother and sister, Megan, 19, on Friday.

But the family remain in Turkey as Lily is treated in hospital for a broken jaw, a possible bleed on her brain, a split tongue and four fractures in her spine.

Her mother has subsequently discovered her holiday deal didn’t include travel insurance.

The bill for the treatment Lily has already received at Letoon Hospital in Fethiye was £7,200, which her father has paid.

But the cost of further treatment could potentially reach £45,000.

She is due to have surgery on her back today after the Go Fund Me page set up to cover the medical bills raised the £19,000 deposit needed for the operation, which will cost £29,000 in total.

Ms Logan told The Sun that her daughter was in severe pain despite being on medication.

She said: “Once it wears off, she’s in absolute agony… she can’t physically move.”

On top of the medical bill, Lily’s mother also says she is having to pay for her and her elder daughter’s extended hotel stay and for taxis to and from the hospital to stay close to Lily.