Vicky Balch, 20, victim of Alton Towers disaster crash on The Smiler has spoke of her ordeal.
Speaking to the Mail Online she described what it felt like to think that “she was going to die.” Miss Balch is still fighting in hospital, battling to save her leg from amputation; the fate fellow front row Smiler passenger Leah Washington has already had to come to terms with. Leah Washington of Barnsley South Yorkshire was on her first date with new boyfriend Joe Pugh who also suffered life changing injuries.
The incident which occurred on Tuesday the 2nd of June left passengers trapped on the ride for more than four and a half painstaking hours. The Smiler carriage was at full capacity at the time of the crash carrying a total of 16 thrill-seekers.
Miss Balch felt certain in the aftermath of the incident that she would die. Upon speaking to the BBC she detailed her “excruciating pain” after the collision of the two carriages buried the rides bars forcefully into her knees.
She said: “It felt like slow motion, we banged into the car in front. I felt the bars go into my knees; we moved backwards and the car went into us again”
“I passed out, I was awoken by Dan shouting my name, everyone was screaming. I looked down and I could see blood all over”.
Vicky from Lancashire added: “I thought it was never going to end. I just wanted to die.”
Vicky’s long term boyfriend Daniel Thorpe, 27 a hotel assistant-manager from Buxton North Derbyshire suffered injuries of a collapsed lung and a fractured leg. He was the first crash victim to leave hospital on Monday the 15th of June.
The victims were horrifyingly suspended 25ft above ground, dangling above crowds of traumatised onlookers, most who witnessed and heard the deafening bang when the carriage carrying park visitors collided with a stationary carriage.
Numerous paramedics from air ambulances and ambulance vehicles along with Alton Towers’ own medical staff battled to help the injured as fire fighters built a hydraulic platform to reach them.
After reaching the group, front row passengers were rushed to hospital where Miss Balch underwent surgery immediately for significant leg damage – amputation has still not been ruled out.
Recently it has been revealed how Miss Washington’s Father realised his daughter was on the horror ride when he recognised her and her boyfriend on television coverage of the aftermath.
“Leah’s Father was aware for many hours that his young daughter was on the ride” said Mr Paxton, the head of the personal injury department at Stewarts Law. Leah’s boyfriend remains in hospital with two broken knees and extensive hand injuries.
Chanda Singh, from the West Midlands, a passenger on the second row of the ride, has also been operated on, after later suffering internal bleeding from the force and whiplash of the ride. She has a damaged liver and has suffered blood clots.
Stewarts Law representing the injured is expecting to get them deserved millions of pounds pay outs. The Alton Towers X-Sector, the home of The Smiler has been closed to the public since the incident, with the park currently being described by visitors as a “ghost town.”
Alicia Hattersley Life 