A popular Aberdeen football coach is in a critical condition in a Maltese hospital following a “gruesome” bus crash on Monday.
Simon Morrison, 42, had just arrived on the island the day before with his sister Suzanne Henderson and her family to enjoy a relaxing week-long holiday.
The group had all taken a trip on one of the island’s open top sightseeing double-decker buses when tragedy struck as the vehicle smashed through thick overhanging branches in the popular tourist town of Zurrieq.
Last night Mr Morrison’s mother Ellen Grant, 61, revealed it had been her son’s first holiday since suffering a stroke three years ago.
She said he had suffered massive head injuries and had undergone two operations since the bus crash on Monday.
And she revealed he was being kept in an induced coma and had also suffered fractured ribs and a broken arm.
Mr Morrison was on holiday with his sister Suzanne Henderson, 39, and her husband Michael, 44, and their two children Kieran, 18, and Kelsey, 15.
Last night Mrs Grant hailed Kelsey as a heroine whose actions had saved her uncle’s life.
“He had recovered from the stroke, apart from some loss of movement on his left side,” she said:
“He had just been offered a new job last week. I can’t really believe what’s happened. I’m just numb.
“I’m worried about Kelsey. She is usually terrified of the sight of blood and was apparently screaming the whole way through.
“But she was determined to stay on the bus with him and would not leave until emergency services came. She was the last one off that bus.”
Mr Henderson also suffered a head injury during the crash and was released following a head scan.
His wife suffered two broken fingers, while their children were left bruised.
Mr Henderson, a taxi driver from Aberdeen, said he couldn’t really remember the crash as it “happened so quickly”.
He believes the driver may have been breaking the 60kmph speed limit in an effort to make up time, having slipped behind schedule.
It was said to have been the driver’s first day back behind the wheel at the start of a new tourist season.
Mr Henderson said daughter Kelsey had jumped to the aid of her uncle and helped keep him upright as blood poured out of his mouth after the crash.
“We are all a bit traumatised,” he said.
“The photos don’t show the extent of what happened. It was gruesome and I don’t know if the kids will be the same after what they have seen. The guy sitting behind us had his arm severed.
“Kelsey helped save her uncle’s life.”
Mr Henderson will find out today if he will be allowed to fly home as planned on Sunday, due to his head injury.
He said: “Suzanne and the kids are going to go home for sure. We just have to wait and see how Simon is.”
Mr Henderson added that the Maltese people had been “brilliant”.
Nick Runcie, president of the Middlefield Wasps football team where Mr Morrison coached up until his stroke, last night said he was hoping to hear good news about his friend.
He said: “I had just been texting him on Monday morning about some of the results over the weekend. I spoke with him every day.
“Although he has stopped coaching when he was ill he had been back for about a year and is still very heavily involved with the club. He is a huge part of this club and well-liked by everyone.
“Our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family.”
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “We are supporting British people and their families involved in the bus incident in Malta.”
City Sightseeing, which operates the tour bus on the island, said it was “shocked and saddened” by the incident, and was working with its local franchise to establish the “full facts”.
A spokesman added: “Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by this tragic event.”
A 37-year-old Spanish woman and a 62-year-old man from Belgium died in the accident, while dozens more sustained injuries.