A YOUNGSTER left fighting for her life when she suffered horrific injuries in last month's Dreamspace tragedy has been moved to a hospital nearer her home.

Almost three weeks after the disaster, Rosie Wright is slowly but surely making progress.

And her family were delighted when the three-year-old was transferred this week from Newcastle General Hospital to the children's ward at the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City.

Her parents, Lee and Penny, had been making a daily 40-mile round trip to be at their daughter's side, but the move means Rosie is now being cared for only three miles from her home in Langley Park.

Her grandfather, Des Richards, said: "She is still in traction, but she is still making good progress and we are delighted that she is nearer to home."

Rosie suffered horrendous injuries in the accident in Riverside Park, Chester-le-Street, on July 23, when the inflatable sculpture slipped its moorings and took to the air with about 30 people inside.

Rosie was thrown from the artwork then crushed by a falling metal fan, which left her with injuries that included a punctured lung, two fractures to her spine, bruising to the brain, two broken bones, rib fractures, lacerations to her liver and a head wound.

Her life is thought to have been saved when she was treated at the scene by anaesthetist Dr Peter Evans. She was then airlifted to the paediatric intensive care ward at Newcastle General Hospital, where she spent more than a week on a life support machine.

Rosie's fight for life touched the hearts of the nation, and her family have been inundated with messages of support from well-wishers.

Grandmother Anne Collings, 69, of Seaham, east Durham, and Claire Furmedge, a 38-year-old radiographer and mother-of-two, from Chester-le-Street, both died in the accident.

A police and Health and Safety Executive inquiry into the tragedy is ongoing.