A YORK teenager was in an Italian hospital with serious head injuries today after a freak ski-ing accident.

Jack Robertson, 14, suffered a fractured skull and fractured vertebra after an accident with a friend as they spent the last day of their holiday on the slopes.

Horrified holidaymakers looked on as Jack collapsed unconscious following the accident, and a helicopter was called in to airlift him off the side of the mountain.

The drama happened as the boys were on a run called the Banchetta at the resort of Sestriere, more than 3,000 metres up in the Italian Alps, close to the French border.

Jack, who was snowboarding, and his friend, who was ski-ing, collided as they made their way down the mountain to join the rest of the group.

Staff at a nearby bar called paramedics who raced to the scene and they tried to stabilise Jack before calling in a rescue helicopter which airlifted him to hospital.

Last night Jack, who was on holiday with his parents, Steven and Sandra, and brother Will, was in the intensive care unit of the CTO hospital in Turin.

His parents were by his bedside, but his brother and four other family friends had flown back to Britain yesterday following the end of the New Year ski-ing holiday.

Jack, who lives in Huntington and is a pupil at Huntington School, was knocked unconscious for more than 24 hours and last night doctors were still monitoring his condition which they described as ''serious but stable.''

Speaking from the hospital, his father Steven, a production manager, said: "It has been touch and go for the last few hours and at one point it looked like he was close to death.

"Now things are looking a bit better and we think he will pull through. We can't thank the rescue services and the hospital enough. The Italians have been fantastic throughout.

"Jack has a fractured skull and fractured vertebra and a few hours ago it really looked as if he wasn't going to make it.

"Now we think he will be all right, but we are all still very shocked by what happened."

He said both Jack and his friend fell very heavily after the collision on the mountain.

"Jack was out cold for 24 hours and had to be taken off the mountain in a helicopter.

"His friend was also hurt, but not too badly. He is very shocked by what happened and is pretty devastated.

"He has gone home now and my wife and I are here with Jack.

"We think we will probably have to stay here for a few days at least and then we will see if we can take him back to York.''

Last night a police spokesman in Sestriere said: "It appears that one British boy was snowboarding when his friend crashed into him as he skied.

"One of them suffered serious injuries - there has not been much snow there and maybe if it had been deeper he would not have hurt himself so badly.''

Chris Bridge, head teacher at Huntington School, said: "We are glad that Jack is making good progress and hope to see him back at school as soon as possible."

Tim Gott, neighbour and family friend, said he had spoken to Jack's father on the phone.

He said: "Everything sounds encouraging and he is awake now. He's a lovely lad from a lovely family and our thoughts are with them and we hope everything will be OK."

Updated: 14:33 Monday, January 07, 2002