Girl critical after boating crash

A 14-year-old girl has been critically injured while riding on a rubber ring being pulled by a speedboat in Suffolk.

Police said the girl, from Basildon, Essex, collided with a passing yacht in the Orwell estuary near Levington Marina on Sunday afternoon.

She was flown to Ipswich Hospital, but after tests showed a fractured skull and brain injuries she was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

Police said the girl also suffered a broken leg in the crash.

A spokesman for HM Coastguard said: "It's a bit of a jigsaw puzzle about what happened.

"We had a report that the yacht was struck and the vessel with the ring went on further down river."

Damien Woodings, 60, from Lincoln, saw the incident.

He said: "The girl was with a group of about half a dozen people, adults and children.

"It was very busy out on the water yesterday. There was no room to manoeuvre."

Anyone who saw the accident, at about 1530 BST, is asked to contact police.