‘My daughter could have died’ – mum calls for answers after eight-year-old hit by glass at holiday foam party

Sienna Crank was having “the time of her life” in Turkey with 17 members of her family when she was caught up in the horror at the Green Nature Resort and Spa in Marmaris, during a holiday with Easyjet Holidays.

As Sienna enjoyed the foam party in the packed pool, suddenly and without warning a large piece of single plane glass was blown off the DJ setup, with a large shard hitting Sienna on her arm.

Others were also injured in the incident, in June this year, but the schoolgirl is thought to have been most seriously hurt. Rumours also swirled amongst holidaymakers, many of whom are regulars at this resort – which is promoted by Easyjet Holidays as a family-friendly hotel - that such an incident had also happened the previous summer.

Sienna was rushed to hospital, where the doctor told her she had been milimetres away from having tendons severed, which may have threatened the use of her arm. Now recovering back at home in Bolton, Sienna continues to be traumatised by what happened, and will live with lifelong scarring to her arm.

"Surely it is common sense not to have glass on a DJ stand next to a pool – you can’t even have glass for your drinks. It was probably an accident waiting to happen, I can’t believe they didn’t see the massive risk,” says her mum, Joanne Chadwick.

“The DJ booth was carried in just for the foam party, it wasn’t there all the time, so it wouldn’t even have been properly secured. It was quite a windy day, and with all the people having a good time, it’s a huge risk to have glass around.

“I would urge them to put the safety of guests in the hotel first and not ever use glass again in situations like this, and that goes for other hotels too. If this has happened before at this hotel, as we heard it had, then it really is unforgiveable that this was allowed to happen to Sienna and others.

“This has left us devastated, and of course it ruined our holiday. Sienna will be left with the scars and memories of this for the rest of her life.”

The incident happened in the afternoon of June 7, when Sienna and her whole family were six days into their 10-day break. The family were enjoying the pool party when tragedy struck.

“We had all been really excited about the foam party, especially the children in our group. I had just gone back to the sunbed as the foam had got in my eyes so I went to get a towel – but then I saw people running over to me and I knew something was wrong,” says mum-of-four Joanne.

“I ran to Sienna and saw the cut on her arm. It was absolutely horrific and I remember screaming for someone to call an ambulance. You could see the bone, that’s how deep the cut was – I still remember it every day, and can’t stop thinking about what if the glass had been a little bit higher and hit her throat. It absolutely haunts me.

“Sienna wasn’t crying, I think she had gone into shock, and there were so many lovely guests helping – people were tying towels round her arm, giving her drinks and sweets to keep her sugar up, I was so shocked and panicked I never got to thank them.”

Having been taken to a nearby hospital in Marmaris, Sienna was given stitches within the cut and also to the surface of the skin, and doctors told Joanne how lucky her daughter had been.

“It was absolutely terrifying, and I was just so delighted she was alright and she hadn’t been more seriously hurt – but then I started thinking about what had happened and how. I am furious that the hotel has taken such a massive risk through having a glass DJ stand – it’s ridiculous how plastic wasn’t used,” says Joanne.

“Since we have got home, Sienna has been terrified of glass – when we went to hospital to get her stitches taken out, she was convinced the Perspex screen behind her was going to shatter on her. She will also have a scar on her arm for the rest of her life. Being an image conscious girl already, of course that is going to be awful for her as she gets older. This whole thing has been absolutely horrific.”

Joanne has turned to specialist travel lawyers at Slater and Gordon in pursuing a claim against the travel operator they used for their holiday. Associate (Litigation Executive) Darren Dyke is supporting the family.

“What was a fun-filled family holiday turned to horror in a split second for Sienna and her loved ones – this wholly avoidable incident could have been fatal through the lack of care or awareness in installing a mobile glass DJ stand. It doesn’t bear thinking about what could have happened,” says Darren.

“Sienna and her family are of course devastated by what happened and understandably want answers and accountability. We will support them in every way possible to achieve that.”