A woman was left badly injured being thrown off a fairground ride while on holiday in Turkey. Meliisa Hunter suffered a broken nose and needed stitches in her head, knee and elbow and blood transfusions after the fall.
She was on a two-week trip with her friend when they decided to go on a Waltzer-type ride on May 21. But what was meant to be a fun ride turned into a nightmare, as the 35-year-old said she was flung off the attraction.
**Warning people may find the images below distressing**
Melissa said she wanted to share her story to warn others of the possible dangers of amusement rides abroad. She told the Echo : "The only way I can describe is the seats are like the Waltzers which has a seat and a bar which goes down, they were like in a row behind each other in the circle. So the ride goes round and round and then tips on a slant, so you're kind of sideways.
Describing the ride operator, she explained: "He's like laughing and we're laughing at first. Then he started turning it up so it's going faster and faster. And because of the g-force or whatever, I am on the outside of the carriage and my friend is on the inside because she is smaller then me, she is sort of leaning into me.
"So we're going round and laughing then he stops so we think he's finished. Then he looks at us again and he turns it on backwards, so we're going backwards. Then he turns it up, so we're forward again and turns it right up and he's laughing.
"At this point I am screaming and I am saying to Terri 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe' and she is trying to drag herself back to her side of the carriage but she can't because he was going so fast."
Melissa said at this point she was "hanging" out the carriage and claims she was shouting for the ride to stop. The 35-year-old said she was thrown out off the ride and into a metal bar. She believes the attraction was going at about "40 to 50mph" at this point.
She was left unconscious and "bleeding very badly". She said: "My friend said to me 'Mel you were on the floor in a pool of blood, I thought you were dead. I have never seen so much blood'. The blood was clotting."
The 35-year-old was taken to hospital where it was found she suffered a broken nose and needed stitches in her head, knee and elbow. She also needed to have multiple MRI scans and Melissa said she was told that her hospital records said she had to have a blood transfusion.
Photos shared with the ECHO show Melissa with huge stitches in her head, black eyes and other cuts and grazes in her body. The 35-year-old said she wanted to share her story to warn others of the potential dangers of similar rides on holiday.
She said: "If that had been a child there would have been no way a child would have survived that. There was no health and safety, you don't think do you? You're just on holiday, I am having a good time and I feel like I need to say something as I could be saving a child's life."
