Scotsman Suzanne Cassidy was sucked into the propeller blades of a speedboat that had just dragged her through the water on an inflatable ring.
The 26-year-old daycare worker only survived by clinging to the side of the ship and twisting her body as the sharp blades sliced through her leg.
Lucky escape: Suzanne Cassidy was sucked into the propellers of a pleasure boat in Ibiza. She said she is lucky to be alive.
Her friends saved her life by lifting her aboard and helping her get to the hospital when she began bleeding from a wound near her knee that required several stitches. She also suffered a serious leg fracture.
He is recovering from an emergency operation at the Can Misses Hospital in Ibiza city.
His tibia was left protruding from his right leg in the accident and the broken bone had to be reattached with pins.
Suzanne, from Glasgow, arrived in Ibiza just 11 weeks ago to start a summer job in a bar.
She said: ‘I’m glad to be alive. I really thought she was going to die.
“I immediately knew the danger I was in when I felt the force of the engine sucking my leg into the propellers.
‘Somehow I found the strength in my upper body to turn and walk away from danger.
‘My friends took me aboard the boat and that’s when I saw the blood.
“I could feel the throbbing in my leg where it was broken, but at the time I was running on adrenaline and didn’t want to look at it, so I only discovered that the bone had protruded from my leg after I arrived from the operation.
“It was an operation that lasted four and a half hours. My friends have asked me how many pins and stitches have been put in my leg, but I don’t know.’
Accident: Suzanne was saved by friends who took her aboard the boat at the San Antonio resort and rushed her to the hospital.
The accident occurred around 4 pm on Sunday in a beautiful cove near the tourist center of San Antonio called Cala Conta.
Suzanne had jumped into the water to swim to a larger boat anchored nearby after being swept out to sea on an inflatable ring with friends.
She said: ‘We were out as part of a friend’s 30th birthday party celebrations with other friends and my boss at the bar I work at.
‘Five of us had just finished our turn in the ring and were making a change with some other friends who were waiting in the bigger boat so they could go out and do their turn.
‘Everything happened so quickly. I don’t know if our boat moved or I jumped into the sea too close to the engine but I don’t remember hearing any warnings.
‘I’ve been told I’ll be in hospital for another four or five days and won’t be able to fly for a while.
‘I’ll probably return to Scotland at the end of September, when I had to fly back anyway.
‘The doctors have told me that I will walk again without limping. And I love dancing, so eventually I’ll really want to dance again.”
Local Civil Guard agents have launched an investigation into the incident.
The owners of the boat involved in the accident were not available for comment.
Suzanne, who is working in Ibiza for the summer, was enjoying birthday celebrations on the island when the accident occurred.