A FALMOUTH schoolgirl said she "thought she was going to die" after being hit by a car on Tuesday morning.

Ffion Chamberlain was taking her usual walk to school with friends when the accident happened near Trescobeas Surgery.

"I thought I was going to die. One minute I was walking across the road and the next, I was in the air looking down, thinking what's just happened?" said the 12 year-old.

Emergency Services flocked to the scene at 8.30am, responding to reports of a collision involving a car and a pedestrian.

Ffion, who lives in Mongleath Avenue, had been beckoned across the road by a driver who had stopped to let her out, but a following car failed to spot her.

"It was horrible. I usually walk past the railway station and then turn left by the rugby club to meet up with friends on the way to school.

"I thought we were all crossing at the same time but I was the only one to walk into the road."

Ffion's mum Gwenda said that witnesses had seen her be thrown "15 or 20 feet" in the air.

She said: "Her backpack saved her. She landed on it after being knocked up into the air. I work at Watson Marlow and had the phone call that no parent wants at 8.30am.

"I didn't think it sounded too serious at first, I thought she'd just fallen over. But when I got there, police and ambulance were everywhere. It was chaos with so many people around who saw it happen. The emergency services were fantastic."

Paramedics treated Ffion at the roadside before taking her to Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, from where she was later released at around 5.30pm.

She sustained a badly damaged cruciate ligament in her knee, requiring a plaster to keep her leg straight for at least two weeks.

Gwenda, who said she did not blame the driver involved in the incident, added: "It could have been a lot worse. I just want the kids to look out for each other when they're walking to school - and for drivers to slow down."

The school sent home some of Ffion's friends who had been traumatised by the incident, which follows another road accident involving a Falmouth School student last month.

Ffion, who won't be able to play her beloved netball for a while, is now recovering well at home.