Ouch! Zoe dangles from a tree

CHILDSPLAY turned into a painful emergency for a 12-year-old Hooe girl.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Jun 2003, 14:56 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:11 BST

Zoe Serjeant of Elizabethan Close was climbing in a 30ft tree with friends in Hooe recreation ground on Saturday when she fell backwards and got caught on a branch.

She was left dangling upside down before friends could support her and call for help.

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Her left ankle was broken in the fall, which mum Marie Curtis thinks could have been avoided if there was more for children to do in the area.

Leading Firefighter Dave Smith said: "She was trapped hanging backwards. There were two people supporting her when we arrived.

"It was a long way up the tree. We had to use a 10.5 metre ladder to reach her.

"Two of our people went up and got a line on her.

"But we had to cut a branch off the tree in order to free her."