Grandfather recovers from serious crash injuries 18/4/12
An elderly grandfather who survived a car crash in Harris and was emergency airlifted twice within hours has made "miraculous progress" despite serious concern for his life.
Ian Hinton of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, who is in his 80s sustained a head injury in the accident on Harris some ten days ago. He is receiving treatment in in the Southern General hospital in Glasgow with his wife Rosemary, who was also injured, by his bedside.
They were in a people carrier vehicle apparently aquaplaned off a bend on the rain-
Seven people from the same family, including children Caitlin and 10-
A passing motorist used a knife to cut two trapped passengers out of their seatbelts. Fire crews got two others out.
Stornoway coastguard rescue helicopter made two flights to rush casualties from the accident scene to the Stornoway hospital a week last Monday.
Mr Hinton was flown by emergency air ambulance to Glasgow the same night while his grandson Sam Large, 10, was kept in the Stornoway hospital for three nights with facial injuries.
The children’s father Gavin Large, whop is married to the Hinton’s daughter Rebecca, relayed the family’s thanks to the island community and their rescuers.
Gavin Large, told Hebrides News Ian Hinton has made "miraculous progress and is now talking, laughing, eating and beginning to sit up. Having drained half the loch from his lungs, all tubes and drains have been removed and the staples from his head wound are out now too."
He added: "The fire crews from Tarbert and Leverburgh were amazing and seemed to be there so quickly and managed to calm us and even make us laugh throughout the tricky operation of getting Grandpa out of the car.
"We were so impressed with the care shown to us by Tarbert and Stornoway police -
"The ambulance crews were so kind and efficient, the coastguards, the air ambulance team and the absolute angels who work at the Western Isles Hospital for looking after us all so well, particularly Sam."