A schoolgirl had a miraculous escape when a jet ski went out of control off a Co Donegal beach.

Sunbathers on Glenburnie beach, between Moville and Greencastle, watched in horror as the 13-year-old was "catapulted into the air" and landed on rocks on Sunday afternoon.

The girl, from Derry, is believed to have suffered head injuries and a broken leg.

"There was a second child on the machine who jumped into the water before the crash happened. It was the nearest thing to a catastrophe that I had ever seen," said neighbour Enda Craig.

He called on Donegal County Council to impose an immediate moratorium on jet ski users in the coves between Moville and Greencastle.

"If the jet ski hadn't veered to the left just before it crashed, it would have ploughed through the people on the beach. Do we have to wait for a fatality before something happens?" he said.

John Leech, CEO of the Irish Water Safety Association, said that people tended to put common sense aside when the sun came out.

“The sun tends to go to our heads and we don't tend to take proper precautions when it comes

to the water,” he said.