A four-year-old boy was today in a coma in a Spanish hospital following a road accident in the Canary Islands in which his mother was killed.

Jordan Claridge, of The Green, Harton, between York and Malton, is in a critical condition in hospital at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, after being airlifted from the neighbouring small island of Lanzarote after the accident on Saturday.

His mother, Nichola, 26, died at the scene of the accident in the island's capital, Arrecife. The boy's father, Kevin, 30, and younger brother, Lewis, two, escaped with minor injuries, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

Mr Claridge was today keeping a vigil at the hospital intensive care unit where his son is being treated. Members of Nichola's family were today flying out to Las Palmas to join the vigil.

The family were half-way through a two-week holiday when their hire car was in collision with a motorcycle, ridden by a 27-year-old local man, the Foreign Office said. The motorcyclist, Jose Antonio Baez Luque, died from his injuries and his funeral was taking place today. Friends and neighbours in the tiny village of Harton spoke of their shock at the tragic news.

And former neighbours at Burlington Avenue, York, where the couple lived for four years until they moved to Harton recently, said they were stunned by the tragedy.

The curtains were drawn at the Claridge's new home. Edith Herron, who lives next door, said: "The family have only been here since February so I haven't really seen much of them except when they are coming or going," she said.

"It is tragic and I am very sorry."

"They are just a quiet family who keep themselves to themselves," added Norman Creaser. "I don't know them at all myself but it is a terrible thing."

Doris Mill, a former neighbour from Burlington Avenue, said: "I am absolutely shocked. She was very quiet and kept herself to herself. She was a very nice person."

A spokesman for the coroner's office in York said there would only be an inquest into Nichola's death if her body was brought back to Britain for cremation or burial.

Any inquest would rely on the Foreign Office to collect evidence from the Canaries and submit a report to the local coroner in the York area, he added.

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