Mother is left in a critical condition after being hit by ‘runaway’ car at Welsh camping festival as her quick-thinking husband threw their daughter, two, to safety
- Jenna O’Neill was at the Conscious Tribal Gathering with her husband and child
- A runaway car ploughed into her at the campsite in Denbighshire, Wales
- Ms O’Neill, 32, was airlifted to hospital in Stoke with life-changing injuries
- Her husband Stephen and their two year old daughter Ayla had minor injuries
A mother suffered life-changing injuries after being hit by a ‘careering car’ at a Welsh festival.
Jenna O’Neill’s two-year-old daughter Ayla was thrown to safety by her husband during the terrifying ordeal at the Conscious Tribal Gathering in Denbighshire.
It is reported that a parked car rolled down a hill and ploughed into the family.
Jenna O’Neill, pictured with her husband Stephen, right and their daughter Ayla, centre, suffered life-changing injuries while at a festival campsite in Denbighshire when a runaway car ploughed into her
Mr O’Neill, pictured right, spotted the danger and was able to safe the couple’s daughter Ayla, pictured, who was in the car’s path
The family were camping at the Conscious Tribal Gathering in Denbighshire, pictured
The 32-year-old mother, from Gloucestershire, was airlifted to hospital from the event on Saturday, and she has said that she thought her ‘whole family had died’.
Speaking from her hospital bed in Stoke, she praised her husband Stephen’s actions saving their daughter.
She told the BBC: ‘My two-and-a-half year old toddler only survived this incident because my husband threw her out of the way of the car as it careered down the road.
‘He’s a hero. Things would be very different if it wasn’t for his quick-thinking and fast actions.’
She said she is in a critical but stable condition in hospital having suffered a broken collar bone, 10 broken ribs and a fractured pelvis as well as damage to her liver and spleen.
‘Mentally I keep going over what happened. I genuinely believed my whole family had died,’ she said.
Daughter Ayla ‘escaped with cuts’ and husband Stephen has a fractured ankle but has since been discharged from hospital.
Stephen, pictured left, suffered a fractured ankle while their daughter Ayla, centre, escaped with cuts and bruises. Jenna, right, suffered several broken bones
The festival is located on farmland next to the ‘Goddess’ River Dee near Glyndyfrdwy, pictured
‘I’m really struggling with the fact that two days ago I was healthy and having fun with my family and now I’m unable to move in a hospital bed, unable to see my family as I’m so far from home due to Covid restrictions,’ said Mrs O’Neill.
‘However all of this is manageable as I am so aware that it could have been so much worse if it wasn’t for the actions of my heroic husband throwing our toddler out of the way of the oncoming car. So I am grateful for their safety.’
North Wales Police said they were called to a report that an ‘unoccupied vehicle had rolled downhill over a tent at a campsite near Corwen’, which is about 15 miles west of Wrexham.
The force has launched an investigation and is liaising with the Health and Safety Executive.
‘We were sat outside our tent enjoying the sunshine having just had lunch,’ said Ms O’Neill, who is from the Forest of Dean.
‘The camping fields were on a sharp incline. We, like many people, had camped at the bottom as it was the only shaded area.’
Welsh Ambulance Service confirmed they were called to ‘reports of a road traffic collision involving pedestrians’ in the Glyndyfrdwy area of Corwen at about 1.30pm on Saturday.
The service said one person was flown by air ambulance to the major trauma unit at Stoke’s University Hospital while two people were taken to Wrexham’s Maelor Hospital in a road ambulance.
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