Girl, three, in coma after Spanish accident

A three-year-old girl from Northern Ireland remained critically ill today after being knocked down in a hit-and-run during a holiday in Spain.

Phoebe Lyle from Bangor, Co Down, was showing no deterioration but no real improvement either, a family friend said.

She was in intensive care in a specialist hospital in Oviedo after being tossed high into the air by a speeding car on a mountain road near Leon, north-west of Madrid.

Her parents, Robert and Jane, were maintaining a bedside vigil, reciting her favourite nursery rhymes in a bid to waken her from her coma.

Other relatives were flying over today with taped recordings of the familiar voices of friends and family, also reading from children books, to boost their efforts.

Pheobe’s father Robert is a director of Belfast advertising agency McCann-Erickson, which has campaigned against drink driving and speeding.

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.