A young girl who was seriously injured in a skiing accident cheated death by inches, according to the team who rescued her.

Schoolgirl India Furness was airlifted to hospital after a horrific accident in the Austrian Alps.

But despite her injuries it is believed she could have been killed had she hit the wall of the hut or hurtled further down the mountain.

The nine-year-old Dorchester Middle School pupil was on a skiing holiday with her parents Nigel and Helen and older sisters, when she lost control on a ski run at the Austrian ski resort of Goldried in Matrei, East Tyrol.

She went through a safety net, over a wooden veranda and wooden fence and through a window of a ski hut, ending up badly injured in the corner. But it is believed she could have been killed had she hit the wall of the hut.

Gerhard Eder, of the rescue helicopter crew, said: “There was some luck in her misfortune because she came through the window rather than the wall.”

India was airlifted to hospital in Innsbruck with head injuries.

Doctors said her injuries were severe but not life threatening. Her parents are staying with her in hospital. The family are described as good skiers who go every year.

India’s grandma, Mary Stenhouse, also from Cerne Abbas, said they had all the kit needed with them.

Mrs Stenhouse said that she believed India could have died if she hadn’t hit the window.

She said: “I know it’s bad what’s happened, but when you look at what could have happened, if she’d hit the side of the ski hut or went the other side down a mountain.

“She was very lucky.”

Mrs Stenhouse said that doctors were keeping her sedated and quiet.

The family were on an independent skiing holiday but had travelled to the resort in the Austrian Alps with a group of schoolchildren and teachers from Dorchester Middle School, where India is a pupil.

The family were staying in the same resort complex.

Mrs Stenhouse said she understood that India’s older sisters Scarlet, 14, and Alice, 12, were being looked after by staff from the school.

Deputy headteacher at the school Ruth Thomas said that the children on the trip had been informed of the incident and added that everyone’s thoughts were with the family.

Austrian police are investigating the incident that happened close to Austria’s highest mountain the Grossglockner.

A police spokesman said that conditions had been icy at the time of the incident, which would make it difficult for skiers to slow down.

He said India’s safety equipment probably saved her life as she had full eye protection and a crash helmet on at the time.