Doctors: Canopy saved falling girl's life

VENICE, Italy, July 20 (UPI) -- A teenage British girl is still alive thanks to a canopy that helped break her 30-foot fall from a hotel window in Venice, Italy, doctors say.

Hospital Director Onofrio La Manna said Su Cangatin-Ripley, 16, who plummeted to the road below when her hotel window ledge crumbled apart Saturday, was no longer in critical condition despite bruises to her liver, lungs and kidneys, The Mail on Sunday reported.

"She is breathing on her own after having been on a machine and her head and chest injuries appear superficial," La Manna said.

"She will be in hospital for a while yet while doctors keep an eye on her but she can think herself very lucky to be alive."

Hotel Cristallo Manager Nicola Fullin told the British newspaper he had warned the girl and her fellow students, who were on a school trip to Italy, about the precarious ledges prior to the accident.

Cangatin-Ripley is thought to have been smoking a cigarette and leaning out the window when the ledge broke apart, the newspaper reported.