By Rory Reynolds
A SEVEN year-old girl is recovering in hospital after a horrific Christmas Eve car smash.
The youngster ran into an oncoming vehicle on her way back from playing in the snow at a park.
Her shocked family – believed to be Eastern European – spent Christmas by her bedside in Edinburgh’s Sick Kids Hospital, where she is being treated for facial and traumatic injuries.
Last night Police said she remained in hospital and there was “no update” on her condition.
Tearful neighbours said she ran out onto the road in front of the vehicle on Stevenson Drive in Edinburgh.Her screams were heard by many other children playing in the city’s Saughton Park.
Among them was eight-year-old Charlie Lynch, who said he heard a man – thought to be the injured girl’s dad – “howling” in terror.
Screaming
Initially it was thought a bus had hit her, but police were later seen interviewing the driver of a Honda Jazz, which had been travelling ahead of the bus.
He said: “I just heard screams and my friend Christopher said ‘someone has been hurt’.
“We heard the girl screaming for a second then we heard the man howling.
“I went up and saw her lying on the ground – she was just still. She didn’t move a muscle.
Bleeding
“Her Dad was kneeling over her. Christopher heard him shouting ‘no, she’s dead’.
“Everyone was getting out of the bus and their cars to see. Everyone was crowding around.
“My friend Christopher saw her bleeding from the chest – I just saw her from the side.
“She was wearing jeans and a pink and purple puffy jacket. Her dad had a grey coat on with white at the bottom. He was tall and skinny.
“He was shouting Polish words – I didn’t understand. People came to support him and some people held him. I think her mum was there too.”
Charlie’s mum, Claire Higgins, 44, said: ““It’s just terrible for something like this to happen on Christmas Eve. I can’t imagine how the parents are feeling.
Traumatic
“I don’t know if the mum was with them or if someone went to get her from the crescent.
“I don’t know why they didn’t take the crossing – it takes two seconds.”
A spokesman for the ambulance service said: “A female was hit by a car on Stevenson Drive in Edinburgh.
“She has been taken to the Sick Kids Hospital where she is being treated for possible facial injuries and other traumatic injuries.”
A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police confirmed an investigation into the circumstances was ongoing.
He said: “There is no update to report on her condition. She remains in the Sick Kids Hospital and we are continuing an investigation into the circumstances of how she came by her injuries.”
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