I want to say thanks to men who saved Amelia, says mum of girl trapped under car

Four-year-old Amelia Carlin was struck by a car near her home at Magowan Park in Londonderry on Sunday, February 25 and became trapped beneath the weight of the vehicle.

She was rushed to Altnagelvin Hospital with a broken leg and a fractured pelvis, and then taken to the intensive care unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, where she remains over a week later .

Her mother, Niamh, described how the quick-thinking group of around six or eight men had sprung into action in the harrowing moments after the collision, and worked together to lift the car off little Amelia, perhaps saving her life in the process.

She also condemned as a “disgrace” an attack on police which took place in the aftermath of the collision.

Officers who attended the scene of the collision were attacked by a gang of youths, police said .

Niamh said: “I heard about the stone throwing when I was over in Altnagelvin (hospital) and I thought it was a disgrace, especially because of what happened.”

She said Amelia had been at her friend’s house playing and, while on her way back to ask her mother if she could stay a bit longer, had stepped on to the road from between two parked cars when the unthinkable happened.

“I just heard an awful scream,” Niamh said. “I went out to see what was going on and I could see from the way the car was parked, it was kind of slanted because the driver must have swerved.

“I seen Amelia’s shoe lying in the street and that’s when I knew it was her.

“I just started screaming and running over. By this stage the fellas that had been at the other house had already started lifting the car up.”

She added: “They’d heard the thump of the car and heard the screaming. Thank God they ran over and started trying to lift the car up. I would say there was about six or eight of them.

“I couldn’t see her so I just threw myself under the car and she was stuck under the front wheel. I was able to pull her by her shoulders. She was looking at me and calling ‘mammy’.

“I’d hope to meet up with them all again properly when we get back to Derry to thank them all. They saved her life.”

Niamh said she hopes Amelia will be moved out of the ICU soon.