Splat!

Keith, 44, who was on holiday in the resort of Skanes, escaped with just a broken bone in his hip after:

Plunging from a parachute on to a villa roof in a hotel complex watched by astonished sunbathers;

Falling another 40 feet down the side of a building;

Hanging suspended four feet from the ground after the parachute got stuck in a palm tree.

But Keith says the nightmare continued when he was taken to hospital, where the conditions were appalling.

Keith, a manager from Haxby, said the drama started at the end of the parascending session, which involves wearing a parachute and being pulled along in the air by a boat, when the boat neared the beach to allow him to land.

"On this occasion instead of the beach, I ended up 200 yards inland over a hotel complex, three hotels away from where we were staying.

"By all accounts I came over the swimming pool, much to people's astonishment.

"The parachute twisted and started to collapse and I fell over 100ft onto one of the concrete villa roofs.

"I was pulled over the side and fell another 40 feet after the parachute got stuck in a palm tree."

After swinging into a wall Keith then found himself suspended four feet above the ground. He unhooked himself from the line and jumped to the floor.

With wife, Lynette, and 13-year-old son Ashley back on the now far-away beach, Keith had to rely on the help of strangers to get him help.

A Polish tourist, the only person to speak English, went with him to the local public hospital.

"It was full of people with broken legs and broken arms, and there was blood all over," he said.

"It was absolutely horrendous and a complete nightmare."

He claimed the hospital did not even dress his wounds and said he had discharged himself from the hospital that night.

He was examined by a second doctor the next day but it was only when he went into York District Hospital that he was told he had a broken bone in his hip.A manager at Derwent Coach Works, York, Keith has been signed off work for at least six weeks.

He said he felt he had been let down by the holiday company who did not come out to the hospital despite being contacted.

A spokeswoman for holiday company Panorama said their rep at Keith's hotel did not know about the accident for some time because it happened a distance from the hotel. They were told an excellent English speaker from the watersports company had accompanied him to hospital.

The rep at the hotel phoned the hospital and was told by a doctor that Keith's wounds would be dressed, X-rays would be taken and then he would be discharged, so the rep decided her role was to stay with Lynnette and comfort her.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.