Inspirational courage of girl who suffered 96 per cent burns in horrific coach inferno

Catrin Pugh suffered 96 per cent burns when she was caught in an inferno on board a coach in the French Alps.

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by Ellie Hooper |
Published on

The teenager spent three months in a coma after she was pulled out of the charred wreckage of the vehicle, which smashed in to a cliffside last April.

Believed to be the first adult to survive such widespread burns, only Catrin's soles of her feet and her scalp were untouched by the ferocious flames.

Catrin in a picture before the accident

Medics who treated the Welsh teenager, said her chances of survival were just 1 in 1000. Her consultant Ian James, said he had never seen a case like this in all his career.

Speaking to ITV, Caitlin said she remembers waking up on the roadside screaming in pain, and then awakening three months later in the burns unit.

Catrin was in the alps when the accident happened

'There were dark days, I was very upset…I couldn't really see a future. But then a burn's victim, who'd had extensive burns like mine, came to visit me and she is independent - she does everything for herself and she made me realise that I will have a future as long as I do what I'm told, I wear my mask I wear my pressure garments, and if I do all of my physical therapy.'

Catrin pictured before the accident

Catrin has about another year of rehabilitation, after which time she can be back to what she was doing before the accident.

'Her determination has helped enormously' said her consultant Ian James.

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