Shropshire paramedic helped to save Alton Towers victim's life

Tom Waters, who hails from Ludlow, was part of the paramedic team from the Midlands Air Ambulance that flew in from their base at Cosford when tragedy struck on the Smiler ride.

The 27-year-old, along with the rest of the team, took part in the four-hour rescue operation at the Staffordshire theme park, which proved to be the most complex they had ever dealt with.

The emergency services battled to save the four people trapped at the front of the carriage, including 18-year-old Leah Washington from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, who was in a critical condition.

Mr Waters said it was clear that Miss Washington's injuries were very serious due to the amount of blood she was losing.

He said: "Leah was bleeding profusely, so I knew we had to get a saline drip into her quickly. The priority was to stop the blood flow.

"We gave her drugs to promote clotting and applied two combat tourniquets to her left leg. But we still couldn't stop the bleeding as we couldn't access her leg properly.

"The blood flow wasn't just from her femoral artery, it was actually coming from the centre of the bone itself.

"Within 15 minutes, we realised we would need blood for Leah and one of the air ambulances was sent to the Royal Stoke University Hospital for four units, almost two litres of blood."

Meanwhile, the fire brigade had started trying to free the victims from the wreckage using cutting equipment normally reserved for cars, not the hardened steel of Smiler's superstructure.

Mr Waters added: "Every little manoeuvre to try and free them took time and time was something Leah didn't have."

Miss Washington, who turned 18 last month, was one of the five people seriously injured in the crash, and as a result had her left leg amputated above the knee.

She had been at the theme park with her boyfriend Joe Pugh, who she was sitting next to on the front of the carriage as it collided with another.

Mr Pugh had both of his kneecaps smashed by the force of the impact, and only returned home last month following the accident.

The sixth-form student had been dating Joe, also 18, for six weeks when they made a last minute decision to go to Alton Towers on June 2.

She described seeing the other carriage in front and thinking the crash would be "like a bumper car ride", but after the collision she saw that those around her were injured and realised the safety bar was digging into her left leg and saw flesh on the seat in front.

Miss Washington said she begged the surgeon not to tell her she had lost a limb and that it took her a long time to look at her injury.

Despite her injuries the teenager is looking to the future, although she is apprehensive but is trying to get used to a different way of life. She said she gets tired using crutches, but does not like being in a wheelchair as people often stare.

"I'm nervous for the future. My life is on hold while my friends are moving forward, having their own cars and leaving home. I'll have a different path and a different life," she said.

However, she said she does not feel angry towards the theme park, whose owner Merlin Entertainments accepted responsibility for the crash, but added that she wants to know what went wrong so it does not happen again.

Vicky Balch, 20, from Leyland in Lancashire, also had to have her leg amputated after the crash. Miss Balch described how she wanted to die after the carriages collided.

She said: "The bars were in my right knee. The only thought that was going through my mind for the hours and hours that we were stuck was that we were going to die.

"If I was going to survive I would never walk again, that was certain. I thought it was never going to end. I just wanted to die."

Daniel Thorpe, a 27-year-old hotel assistant manager from Buxton in Derbyshire, and Chandaben Chauhan, 49, of Wednesbury, West Midlands, also suffered injuries.