AN 18-YEAR-OLD youth is recovering in hospital after breaking his back in a sledging accident.

Jack Barrington took advantage of last week’s snow to go sledging at Walkerwood Reservoir, Stalybridge.

But after hitting a piece of uneven ground, the teenager was violently thrown from his sledge through the air and broke his back in two places as he landed.

Jack was taken to Tameside Hospital, where he is currently being treated, by Oldham Mountain Rescue team.

But although it could take him months to get back on his feet, mum Susan has described him as ‘lucky’. The accident happened at around midday on Tuesday.

Sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Francesca Anobile, who was sledging the same day in a Sheffield park, died when her makeshift sledge crashed through a barbed wire fence.

Susan said: "When Jack went down, there was a bit of a jut at the bottom of the hill which he hit with some force. It threw him up about 10ft in the air and he landed in a pothole with his back taking the full brunt of the fall. It broke two vertebrae in his back but he is lucky that it didn’t paralyse him. Sledging can be dangerous but when you’re young you think it’s just a bit of fun.  But I was listening to how that girl (Francesca) died and I just think how lucky Jack is. He does have a broken back but he’s lucky that he is still alive."

Jack will now have a back brace fitted to help him move around and hopes to be transferred for surgery at Hope Hospital, near to his home in Salford.

Doctors say it may take time but are hopeful that he will make a full recovery.

Susan, who lives with Jack in Salford, added: "We’d like to thank Oldham Mountain Rescue for everything they did and also the passer-by who helped Jack. He’s got feeling and movement and strength in his limbs, it’s just getting it fixed."