A three-year-old girl from Northern Ireland is in a coma in a Spanish hospital after she was knocked down in a hit-and-run incident.
Phoebe Lyle from Bangor, Co Down is in hospital in Oviedo after being thrown several metres by a car on a mountain road near Leon, north-west of Madrid.
She is on holiday with her parents, Robert and Jane Lyle.
A family friend gave her immediate medical attention at the scene of the accident before she was raced to Leon General Hospital by a crash team and ambulance.
Phoebe was later transferred to the specialist hospital in Oviedo where she is described as being in a critical condition.
Spanish police examining the scene of the hit-and-run recovered broken lights from the car which have been sent for forensic analysis in Madrid to help the hunt for the driver.
Doctors treating the little girl have also sent an urgent request to relatives in Northern Ireland for tape recordings of Phoebe's favourite nursery rhymes and family voices in the hope that they will help her to break out of the coma.
Phoebe's father Robert is a director of the Belfast advertising agency McCann-Erickson, which has campaigned against drink driving and speeding. He and her mother Jane paid tribute to medical staff treating their daughter.
PA