A GIRL faces months of medical tests after being pierced in the foot by a syringe on Weymouth beach.

Twelve-year-old Chloe Mark was on holiday from her home in Belgium with her aunt, Chickerell resident Lauren Copp.

On Tuesday, she joined her aunt, brother and six cousins on Weymouth beach where the children played in front of the sea wall.

At around 2pm, Chloe was stabbed in the foot by a hypodermic syringe, buried in the sand.

Mrs Copp, 34, whom Chloe visits during the summer holidays, described the terrifying ordeal.

She said: “When the kids were eating their lunch, they sat on the wall and were climbing and jumping down – as kids do.

“Then, she called me. Just after she had jumped onto the sand.

“I could see her foot was bleeding when I walked over to her.

“It was an awful shock, to see her, holding a needle she had pulled out of her foot.”

Immediately, Lauren took her niece’s foot and squeezed in order to drain as much blood as possible.

Lifeguard were brought to the scene and disposed of the needle in a special container.

Mrs Copp claimed she was told by the lifeguard who attended that the beach-cleaning tractors often fail to reach the edges.

Chloe was taken to Dorset County Hospital, where she was given injections for hepatitis B, and will face several more over coming months.

Mrs Copp added: “I’ve lived here for years and never seen anything like that.

“I think, thankfully, because she’s a child, she doesn’t fully understand how serious it all was.

“It’s so sad. Such a shame that she’s now going to go back to Belgium and see her doctor, and tell them what happened.

“Hopefully, she’s not going to have any long term fears of the beach.

“I think we’re going to try to visit it again before she goes back to conquer any fears she has left.

“The kids absolutely love being at the beach. Living in Belgium, they don’t get to go all that much.”

Cllr Jason Osborne, spokesman for tourism and culture, said: “Between May 1 and September 30 Weymouth Beach undergoes a mechanical clean on a daily basis. Litter is picked from the beach throughout the rest of the day.

“We believe this type of incident to be a rare occurrence.

“While the borough council does as much as possible to ensure the beach is clean and safe to use, we would advise users of any beach to take care if walking barefoot.”