A TEENAGER who suffered a fractured skull and vertebrae after a freak snowboarding accident during a family holiday in Italy was today expected to be flown home.

Jack Robertson, 14, from York, was due to leave a hospital in Turin after being eased out of a 24-hour coma following the accident at the resort of Sestriere in the Italian Alps.

The schoolboy, who will be accompanied by his parents Steve and Sandra, was induced into a coma to prevent him causing further injury to himself after the accident.

His brother Will, 17, said that Jack had fallen off his snowboard after going over a large bump on a slope.

Seconds later, a family friend on skis went over the same bump and crashed into him after failing to spot him lying in the snow.

Paramedics arrived at the scene within minutes and the teenager was flown by helicopter to the hospital.

Although he was initially in a serious condition in intensive care, Jack began talking and eating after he was taken off a respirator on Sunday.