A WOMAN who fell 80ft from a hotel balcony in Majorca lost her balance while trying to throw a spider out of her suitcase, it emerged last night.

Chantelle Serginson, 24, of Middlesbrough, fractured her skull and legs in multiple places when she fell from the sixth floor of a three-star hotel in Magaluf.

Some reports suggested she fell from the balcony following a row with her mother, Kimberley, but last night the 44-year-old told The Northern Echo: “We weren’t having a row. You would laugh if you heard what happened.

“We had found a spider in the suitcase and we were shouting and laughing about who was going to throw it out, saying, ‘You throw it out, no you throw it out’.

“In the end we both grabbed the suitcase and threw the spider out.”

She said that was when her daughter lost her balance and plunged to the ground.

Miss Serginson’s condition had been described by the hospital as critical, but yesterday her mother said her daughter had made a “brilliant” recovery.

Speaking from Spain, Mrs Serginson said: “She’s doing just fine, she’s talking and everything, it’s been brilliant that she’s doing so well.”

Asked how she was dealing with the shock, she said: “I’m doing fine too.”

Miss Serginson was reportedly sitting up in bed and asking for Kentucky Fried Chicken because she does not like the hospital food.

Spanish police said they were treating the incident, which happened at about 6pm on Friday, as an accident.

Mrs Serginson has been at her daughter’s bedside since the accident and has been cooperating with police and insurance companies.

Reports in national newspapers had suggested her sister, Jessica, 15, was with them, but she is at home in Park End, Middlesbrough.

The accident is the latest tragedy to hit the family.

Six years ago, Mrs Serginson had her throat slashed in front of her daughter at her home in Middlesbrough by a neighbour following a dispute.

Mrs Serginson required extensive plastic surgery.

Her attacker, Mark Smorthwaite, then 34, of Rossett Walk, Middlesbrough, was jailed indefinitely and was told he could not apply for parole for four years by Newcastle Crown Court.

In 1999, Mrs Serginson’s seven-year-old daughter, Katie, died from a brain tumour.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “We are aware of the incident and are offering consular assistance to the family.”

Three Britons have fallen to their deaths from hotels in Magaluf in the past six weeks.