Boy, 12, left with fractured skull after being thrown from fairground ride so hard his head became jammed in a safety gate
Jack Beckett, 12, undergoes four hours of emergency surgery following funfair trip with brother and pals
A SCHOOLBOY was left with a fractured skull after he was thrown from a fairground ride with so much force that his head became jammed in a safety gate.
Jack Beckett, 12, was airlifted to hospital where surgeons battled for almost four hours to save his sight following the horror accident.
His mortified mother Caroline, 41, has been told by doctors that he will have to have a plastic cap fitted to keep his right eyeball in place for the rest of his life.
Caroline, of Blackpool, Lancs., said: "I don't know how long he had been on the ride when he was flung. He ended up on his knees and his head became lodged in the gate where they lock the ride.
"I've been told two of his friends have got up and started pulling Jack out of this gate, screaming for the ride to stop.
"Other adults attracted by the screaming had to intervene to stop the ride."
Jack visited the funfair in Poulton, Lancs with his brother Charlie, 13, and some friends on Saturday.
They chose to go on a Tagada-style ride - where thrill seekers sit in a round bowl with no seatbelts or restraints.
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It then spins before hydraulic jacks tilt it in the air.
Jack says he was thrown out his seat midway through and his head became trapped in the entrance gate to the ride.
When the ride was halted his elder brother Charlie rang his mother who rushed to the scene.
Caroline added: "He was sat by the ride, slumped over with his head bandaged.
"He was not coherent and he was in a lot of pain - on a scale of one to 10 he was on 10 and he was begging them to let him sleep."
She added: "He is so lucky. Judging by the descriptions, it does not even bear thinking about.
"He has a really high pain threshold but last night he was up most of the night complaining about the pain."
Jack was flown to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Merseyside where he underwent an operation to treat a fractured skull, displaced eye socket and broken hand, which lasted almost four hours.
Police and investigators from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have confirmed they are looking into the exact cause of the accident.
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