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| Cornwall speedboat deaths: Mother relives final moments | Cornwall speedboat deaths: Mother relives final moments |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| A woman whose husband and daughter were killed in a speedboat accident has relived the last moment she saw them. | A woman whose husband and daughter were killed in a speedboat accident has relived the last moment she saw them. |
| Victoria Milligan said it felt like "hitting a wall" when the boat threw her, her husband and their four children into the water. | Victoria Milligan said it felt like "hitting a wall" when the boat threw her, her husband and their four children into the water. |
| Emily Milligan, eight, and her father Nick died on 5 May 2013. | Emily Milligan, eight, and her father Nick died on 5 May 2013. |
| The inquest, held in Truro, heard Mrs Milligan was at the helm when the accident happened in the Camel Estuary near Padstow, Cornwall. | The inquest, held in Truro, heard Mrs Milligan was at the helm when the accident happened in the Camel Estuary near Padstow, Cornwall. |
| The family, from Wandsworth, south west London, had been staying at their holiday home in the area when tragedy struck. | |
| 'Lots of blood' | 'Lots of blood' |
| The hearing was told Mrs Milligan was not wearing a kill cord which would have stopped the engine when they were thrown overboard. | The hearing was told Mrs Milligan was not wearing a kill cord which would have stopped the engine when they were thrown overboard. |
| She told the inquest: "Nick was telling us to stay together. The boat was going around us very fast. | She told the inquest: "Nick was telling us to stay together. The boat was going around us very fast. |
| "I swam towards the beach. The boat hit me in my chest and I saw lots of blood. | "I swam towards the beach. The boat hit me in my chest and I saw lots of blood. |
| "I knew Kit [her son] had also been injured and said 'I want to go home'. I realised I needed to get out of the water. I did not know where anybody else was." | |
| Mrs Milligan said while still in the boat her husband reached across her to pull down on the steering wheel and simultaneously pushed up the throttle. | |
| She told the inquest: "He reached over with his right hand and put the wheel down. With his left hand he slightly jerked up the throttle. | She told the inquest: "He reached over with his right hand and put the wheel down. With his left hand he slightly jerked up the throttle. |
| "That's when we all fell out - it was like hitting a wall. It all happened very quickly." | "That's when we all fell out - it was like hitting a wall. It all happened very quickly." |
| Mrs Milligan said she swam towards the harbour with her son. The two other children, Amber, 12, and Olivia, 11, suffered minor injuries. | |
| The inquest heard the last time she saw her husband he was in the water shouting at the other three children to stay in the middle. | |
| Earlier the hearing learned Emily Milligan was probably unconscious when she was hit by a propeller. | |
| Home Office pathologist Russell Delaney told the inquest it was "highly likely" she was unconscious after being ejected from the speedboat. | Home Office pathologist Russell Delaney told the inquest it was "highly likely" she was unconscious after being ejected from the speedboat. |
| He said Mr Milligan died from a head injury after being thrown overboard. | He said Mr Milligan died from a head injury after being thrown overboard. |
| Mr Delaney said: "I would have expected him to be rendered unconscious almost immediately with death coming shortly afterwards." | Mr Delaney said: "I would have expected him to be rendered unconscious almost immediately with death coming shortly afterwards." |
| Company director Toby Courtauld, who saw the accident, told the inquest: "The boat was going quite slowly with the tide then it accelerated and did a very sharp right turn whereupon I saw everybody come out of the boat. | |
| "I saw it rise up on to its side and then everybody came out. | |
| "The ejection from the boat was very aggressive - they flew out." | |
| Kayaker Leigh Anderson told the inquest: "We could hear screaming and shouting over the sound of the engine. | |
| "One of the girls was screaming repeatedly 'My daddy's dead'." |