A backpacker's trip to Thailand turned into a "holiday from hell" after she crashed a moped through a window, sliced her face open from side to side and needed 56 stitches.

Emma Lewis, 24, was driving when she lost control of the moped and crashed into a house window while on the way to go snorkeling in Ko Pha-ngan.

A taxi driver came quickly to her aid when he witnessed the aftermath of the crash and drove her to a local medical clinic.

Emma's injuries included deep cuts on her left shoulder, right thigh and knee - as well as the wound on her face and a severed tendons in her right foot.

She was "x-rayed and packed with gauze" before being rushed to Bangkok Hospital, Samui, in two ambulances and a speedboat.

She was treated with stitches - racking up £20k in medical bills - before returning to the UK for a skin graft on her foot.

Four months later, she is now almost-fully recovered. Her scarring wasn't permanent - but she'll have to use factor 30 sunscreen on her face whenever she leaves the house for the rest of the year.

Emma, a student, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, said: "The glass window shattered and that's how I got all my injuries.

"The glass cut the top of my right foot and there was complete skin loss.