Man left in coma after 'attack' in Benidorm is brought back to UK after 27 hour ambulance journey

A man who was left battling for his life in a Benidorm hospital after he was seriously injured during a night out has returned home.

Andrew Frazer, 43, fell into a coma after he suffered a severe head injury outside a nightclub in the popular holiday destination.

The St Helens father of two had flown to Benidorm on November 13 to celebrate his brother Ian's birthday. However, by 1am on November 14, less than 24 hours after landing, Andrew was found unconscious in the street and rushed to hospital with a head injury, reports the Liverpool Echo.

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As the stepfather-of-two did not have travel insurance, his sister-in-law Claire said his wound was stapled and he was sent back to his hotel without a CT scan. His condition deteriorated the next day and he was taken to another hospital, where a scan revealed a significant bleed on the brain.

He underwent an emergency craniotomy, a surgical procedure to remove part of the skull to access the brain, and was put into an induced coma. A fundraiser set up to ensure Andrew's safe return to the UK raised over £28,000 in just three days.

However, his family received more distressing news as they were informed his injury was "too severe" for him to fly. Instead, Andrew and his fiancée Carrie endured a gruelling 27-hour journey in the back of a private ambulance, arriving back in Merseyside today.

He will be assessed at Whiston Hospital, and his family believe it is likely he will be transferred to the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery.

Claire, Carrie's sister, said: "His injury was too severe for even a medical flight. The paramedics came and assessed him and a doctor wouldn't give him a 'fit to fly'. They set off yesterday. My sister was in the ambulance with him the whole time and she said as they went over the Pyrenees mountains his blood pressure kept dropping and he was in a lot of pain, so a flight could have killed him."

She said Andrew, who works at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, came out of his coma towards the end of last week - but faces a long and difficult recovery.

"He is conscious but he'll need an assessment to find out the level of his injury and how long his recovery is going to be," she said. "It's a massive relief that he's back in the UK and he's going to get the treatment he needs. We are massively thankful to everyone who has donated."