Surgeon's 'scene from Jaws'

Mr Lyons says he wants to return to work

A hospital consultant whose arm was almost severed whilst water-skiing off the coast of Majorca has described the accident as "like a scene from Jaws".

Andrew Lyons, 49, from Sevenoaks, Kent, was hit on his left side by the propeller of a speedboat being driven by his wife Francoise.

Mr Lyons, who is right-handed, is a senior oral and facial consultant at the Dental Institute at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust and specialises in head and neck cancer.

His arm was saved by surgeons at the Son Dureta Hospital in the Majorcan capital Palma and now he has told BBC Breakfast that he is confident of being back at work "within six months".

The couple were three days into their holiday with son John and daughter Chantal, 13, when the accident happened.

He jumped into the water, saw he couldn't really do much to help me, but then managed to see another boat coming and flag it down Andrew Lyons

Mrs Lyons lost control of the boat and it spun in a circle, driving over her husband.

"I felt a huge blow, like a 10-foot baseball bat, and when I came to my arm was floating at a different angle to the rest of my body.

"I saw blood - it was like a scene from Jaws."

Speaking from Bishops Wood Hospital in Northwood, he praised the quick thinking of 11-year-old John, who managed to turn off the boat's engine and probably saved his father's life.

'Want my life back'

His wife had been thrown into the back of the boat and suffered concussion.

"He jumped into the water, saw he couldn't really do much to help me, but then managed to see another boat coming and flag it down."

Mr Lyons said he was confident he would eventually be able to get back to work, although he faces further surgery on his arm.

"If it was up to me I would be back tomorrow. But it's not up to me. It could be as quick as three months or it could be as long as a year.

"I want my life back and go back to operating so I'll be striving to do that."