Teenager dies in sledging tragedy

Feb 4 2009

The death of a 16-year-old girl who crashed through a barbed wire fence on a makeshift metal sledge was described by police as "tragic".

Francesca Anobile was injured along with three other girls during the accident in Rother Valley Country Park in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Tuesday afternoon. It is thought the sled they were on was made from part of a car roof.

The girls went through a fence containing barbed wire before hitting another fence, which stopped them from falling into a river.

Francesca, from Sheffield, was airlifted to the city's Northern General Hospital with suspected serious head injuries where she died at 6pm.

Police named another of the victims as Nikki Burns, also 16 and from Sheffield, who is being treated at the city's Royal Hallamshire Hospital. The other girls - described by emergency services as "walking wounded" - were taken to Rotherham District General Hospital.

It is believed the girls were sledging at around 1pm in a field which had been fenced off to use for cattle grazing.

South Yorkshire Police said the crash was a "tragic sledging incident".

At the scene of the accident, eyewitness Julian McKay described how the girl hurtled down the slope at high speed and sliced through the mesh fence as if it was not there, causing terrible injuries.

Mr McKay, who was laying flowers at the scene, said the car roof on which the teenagers were travelling continued down the slope until it hit a wooden fence at the very bottom - 300 metres from the top of the hill.

Asked if he thought there should have been more safety arrangements, he said: "It's a very popular place to come and sledge and there's never been any problems. It was a tragic accident."