Young tourist 'trapped' in hospital abroad after being hit by 'freak' wave on holiday
20.11.2023 - 12:25
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A young tourist has been trapped abroad in hospital after she was 'swept out to sea' by a 'freak' wave. Charline Edwards was left in "excruciating" pain after she was hit by the wave as she relaxed in the water on the Cape Verde Coast.
She is currently recovering from a nerve injury to her spine. Initially, she could not feel her arms or hands. Her boyfriend, Callum Aston, said it took three hours for her to reach a hospital and the full extent of her injuries would not be known until she was examined in the UK.
A GoFundMe page has since been launched to cover the £40,000 bill that will need to be paid to fly the 24-year-old home. The couple, from Sutton Coldfield, took the holiday from a colleague at short notice but forgot to arrange travel insurance.
Speaking from the Cape Verde hospital where Charline was being treated, Callum told BirminghamLive of Charline's injuries: "The water was a little choppy but nothing too serious. The flags were green, telling us it was safe to swim.
"We were less than waist-deep in the water, Charline was lying on her back floating in the water relaxing. Suddenly a very big wave landed on top of her. When I eventually stood up myself from the wave, she was nowhere to be seen. She was about 20 yards down into the water, where it had dragged her back out to sea, when I managed to find her."
With no lifeguards to help, Callum said he had to "swim against the current" to drag his injured girlfriend back to the shore.
He said: "Eventually when I got her to the beach, an elderly couple who had spotted us in the distance tried to help me carry her. Eventually, after about five minutes, the lifeguards came over but at that time, she couldn't move anything from her neck down. But the lifeguards were