An 11-year-old girl from Devon died in a "most desperately unfortunate accident" when a branch hidden in the mud pierced her heart as she played with friends on a summer's day in Cornwall.
Lilly Angel Rodgers was playing star fish and doing "commando crawl" in the mud flats and sliding down a muddy bank when a hidden pointy branch or root punched through her ribs.
An inquest into her death held in Truro on Monday (September 21) heard that Lilly had been a fit, healthy and very active girl who loved the outdoors and activities like surfing, climbing, camping and stand-up paddle boarding.
She had spent the night before the accident at a friend's house, staying up late, the hearing was told.
Lilly, who was born in Torbay, had been playing in the mud flats with two friends, something they had done many times before as all were familiar with the spot at Wacker Quay, Torpoint. Wacker Quay forms part of the Tamar Valley landscape and provides free public access to the River Lynher.
The three children were about 50 metres from the shore, where there was a bank sliding down towards a channel in the River Lynher. The inquest heard how the mother of the other two children called them back to be within her line of sight while she and her partner prepared a barbecue.
The mother said the children were rolling around in the mud and "crawling commando-style". After she called them back, the three continued playing, doing star fish then sliding head first down the mud bank towards the channel.
At that point, Lilly stood up, grabbed her chest and gasped before flopping down into the mud on her front.
The adults were alerted by screams from the other children, and a difficult rescue unfolded. The other children's mother and her partner tried to reach Lilly before another adult arrived and emergency services were called.
The branch severed a pulmonary artery, which led to her heart stopping.
A paramedic arrived, but meaningful CPR could only be carried out after the unconscious girl was airlifted to dry land by the coastguard search and rescue helicopter. It took 40 minutes to bring Lilly back to shore from the mud flats.
She was later taken to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, where she was declared deceased.
James Garvican, consultant pathologist at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, carried out a postmortem examination. He told the inquest he was surprised to find a wound near the top of Lilly's ribcage. The wound, when explored in detail, was 7cm deep inside her chest.
Dr Garvican recorded the medical cause of death as "penetrating chest trauma". He said it was most likely a branch or pointy root hidden below the surface of the mud in the bank that caused the fatal injury.
He added: "It's extremely bad luck. Half an inch to the right and it would just have glanced off her ribcage and left a bruise and a scratch. Half an inch to the left and it may still have gone in but it would not have damaged vital organs. This was not a survivable injury."
Dr Garvican said that to survive such an injury, one would have had to suffer it while standing in front of a surgeon and anaesthetist with a hospital theatre ready and prepped to carry out an emergency operation.
Girl’s Chest Pierced by Hidden Branch in Cornwall Mud