DOCTORS IN Bulgaria have expressed concerns that a young Irish man who was badly injured in a fall may now be permanently paralysed.
Colm Lee (23) from Dublin broke two bones in his spine and received head injuries resulting in swelling around his brain. The injuries were sustained when he fell while attempting to shin up a drainpipe into his apartment at the Black Sea resort of Bourgas.
It was initially thought that the Dubliner might not survive the fall.
The accident occurred after he lost the key to his apartment.
Mr Lee then tried to climb up the drainpipe to get into his third-floor apartment but he fell six metres (20ft) to the pavement.
Bourgas city hospital spokesman Stoil Mishakov yesterday said the swelling around Mr Lee's brain had subsided after treatment and the injuries were not life-threatening.
He said that doctors were now examining him to see if he had been left permanently paralysed following the incident.
"They are still ascertaining the full extent of his paralysis," Mr Mishakov said.
Three of Mr Lee's friends who travelled with him to Bulgaria were at his bedside last night.
His father is expected to arrive in Bourgas today.
Mr Mishakov said doctors need permission from the Lee family to perform surgery over the weekend so they can stabilise the injured man and prepare him to be transported back to Ireland for further treatment.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said officials had been providing consular assistance to Mr Lee's family following the incident.
