AN 11-YEAR-OLD girl from Newton Abbot died in a ‘desperately unlikely accident’ while on holiday in Cornwall, an inquest heard.

Lilly Angel Rodgers had been playing with two friends at Wacker Quay, Torpoint in August last year when a branch hidden in the mud went 7cm into her chest.

The inquest, which was held in Truro, heard Lilly had been sliding down a muddy bank on her tummy when the pointed branch penetrated her ribs and severed a pulmonary artery.

She stood up and collapsed and, hearing the other children scream, the adults who were with the children raised the alarm and called the emergency services.

Efforts were made by paramedics at the scene but the difficult rescue conditions meant it took 40 minutes to bring Lilly from the mud flats to shore.

She was airlifted by the coastguard search and rescue helicopter and taken to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth where she was pronounced dead.

Her injury was described as ‘unsurvivable’.

Lilly was described as a fit, healthy and very active young girl who loved the outdoors and activities like surfing, climbing, camping and stand-up paddle boarding.

A post mortem examination discovered she had deep wound between her ribs with internal damage caused to the pericardial sac and pulmonary artery.

The pathologist said the cause of the wound was not established but could have been from a branch or tree root hidden in the mud.

The cause of Lilly’s death was given as penetrating chest trauma.

Coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Andrew Cox concluded Lilly’s death was accidental.

He said in the circumstances it was the most ‘truly, desperately and unlikely accident’.