British holidaymaker sues tour operator for falling palm tree that crushed both legs at Lankan resort

A British holidaymaker is  suing a  tour operator after a falling palm tree at a four-star resort fell and crushed her legs and left her feet 'going in different directions' according to the Daily Mail.

Briton Claire Saywell, 42, was relaxing at the four-star Club Hotel Dolphin resort in Sri Lanka with her husband David when a 50ft tree fell across her sun-bed, shattering her legs.

The 42-year-old commercial insurance broker from Sittingbourne, Kent, feared she may have been left disabled as three men struggled to lift the tree off her, the report claimed.

Claire Saywell, 42, was on holiday with her husband David when a 50ft tree shattered her legs. Pic courtesy Daily Mail.
 

 'I was dozing in the sun with my eyes closed and the next thing I knew I had this excruciating pain in my legs.I remember seeing the tree and screaming, 'Get it off me', as the pain was nothing like I've ever experienced," Ms. Saywell told British media.

'My legs were bent down in a V shape where the sun lounger had broken and when the men managed to get the tree off, my legs looked deformed with my feet going in different directions.

'I will never get that vision out of my head. I thought my legs were gone.

'Everyone was running around panicking and I was trying to avoid looking at my legs as they were such a mess.'

Mrs Saywell said the tree also hit another British tourist who suffered minor injuries, and it took 45 minutes for an ambulance to come to her aid

After being transferred to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, she had titanium pins inserted in her legs in hospital where she spent 12 days before being flown home on a private jet.

Larry Shaw, of law firm Slater and Gordon, which represents Ms Saywell, said: 'It is crucial that holiday resorts and tour operators ensure trees are properly inspected and maintained to avoid incidents like this happening again.'