A British judo star left fighting for her life after a motorcycle accident in Vietnam is being flown out of the country.
Commonwealth medallist Stephanie Inglis, 27, from Inverness, suffered head injuries when her skirt caught in the wheel of a motorcycle taxi taking her to work teaching English in Ha Long and she was pulled off the bike.
She was initially given a 1% chance of survival after the crash on May 12 but has now rallied enough to be able to be transferred to hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.
A post on the SaveSteph Facebook page said her family are “excited and relieved to be able to get her to this point”, and said it marks “another step closer to recovering”.
Childhood friend and judo competitor Khalid Gehlan said: “Stephanie is being moved to get her the treatment she needs.
“Combating the pneumonia is the main focus at the moment. Doctors are suggesting that her head injuries are improving.
“At the moment she is still in a critical condition and still in a medically-induced coma. They have said if the injuries keep improving they will look at bringing her out of the coma.
“At the moment we want to get her there, get her pneumonia under control, and get her home.”
The medical transfer was scheduled to take place on Tuesday but was delayed for a day by a problem with planes and a tropical storm.
Mr Gehlan said he hopes Ms Inglis could be flown home “as soon as possible” when her condition allows.
He created an online fundraising page for Ms Inglis, who won silver at Glasgow 2014, as her travel insurance had been deemed invalid and her hospital stay was costing £2,000 a day.
The fund sat at £234,000 on Wednesday but he urged people to keep donating as the Bangkok move has added to medical bills.
He said: “Until we get her home on UK soil we need people to keep being as generous as possible. The Bangkok flight was £25,000 and a flight home is over £100,000, so any donations will help. Everyone has done a fantastic job so far.”
The move comes a day after Sir Chris Hoy sent a message of support to Ms Inglis, urging her to “keep fighting”.
In a video message posted on the SaveSteph site, the six times Olympic gold medallist said: “Hi Stephanie, it’s Chris Hoy here, I just wanted to send you a very quick message to wish you the very best and let you know that we’re thinking about you and we’re urging you on.
“We look forward to seeing you when you get back home. Keep fighting, remember all the stuff you learned at judo, keep sticking in there, do the very best you can, and we’ll see you very soon. Take care.”
