Prayers were still being said yesterday for Kieran Brookes, the 14-year-old Heathfield boy critically injured in a freak accident while on a school skiing trip to France. His parents Nick and Cindy are at his hospital bedside. Kieran was among 60 students from Torquay Boys' Grammar School taking part in the £850 Alpine adventure in the Portes du Soleil resort of Chatel. Tragedy struck on Wednesday lunchtime last week when his clothing or backpack became caught as he tried to get off a ski lift. He ended up hanging by his neck and was airlifted to hospital in Annecy, where he was placed in an induced coma and is still undergoing assessment and treatment. It is feared he could have suffered brain damage as a result of being unable to breathe. His sister Zoe is being cared for by an aunt. Medics had hoped to transfer Kieran to a hospital in either Exeter or Bristol but as of yesterday that had not happened.

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