A young Bermudian studying in America is recovering in hospital after she was seriously injured in a Florida boating crash.

University of Miami student Joanna Stapff was rushed to hospital with internal injuries after the single boat accident earlier this month.

Co-passenger and world wakeboard champion Danny Hampson, 17, was airlifted to a trauma centre in Miami with a broken neck.

Ms Stapff, 24, was apparently thrown from the vessel after it veered into mangroves and struck a tree. She suffered seven fractured ribs, a lacerated liver and a punctured lung.

Her father, Kurt Stapff, of Paget, yesterday said his daughter had been on a respirator for about ten days after the crash ? but was now out of intensive care following surgery.

He heard news of the accident from his daughter?s room-mate on Mother?s Day and admitted it came as a terrible shock.

He told : ?She was in a boat and it apparently hit a tree and she was thrown overboard. She was lucky not to break her back. She did break several ribs and her lung collapsed.?

Mr. Stapff, of Middle Road, said his daughter?s condition yesterday was stable. The art and communications student and former pupil at Bermuda High School for Girls ? half-way through a three year course in the US ? is expected to be in hospital for at least another fortnight, he added.

?I?m calling her every day,? he continued. ?She?s a little bit down but has a lot of friends and her mum with her.

?Her breathing is a lot better and we are quite optimistic now.?

Mr. Stapff has not been able to fly out to Miami because he has had to take another of his children to school. But he said he was looking forward to jetting out to Florida to see his daughter, with a visit planned for the end of June.

?It could have been a lot worse. Now we can?t wait until she?s better.?

The patient?s step-father, John Lundin, had flown to the US from Hawaii to be with his step-daughter. He is now back in Hawaii, but his wife and Ms Stapff?s mother, Rose-Ann, is still at her daughter?s bedside.

As well as a broken neck, Mr. Hampson, 17, sustained a head injury and nerve damage in his arm when the flats skiff ? driven by a 17-year-old Islamorada teenager ? veered into mangroves at about 7.15 p.m. He was yesterday said to be recovering at home in Tavernier, the local Keys News newspaper reported.

Five people were aboard the boat, according to state law officers, however, Ms Stapff and Mr. Hampson were the only ones injured.

The boat?s operator has been charged with operating a vessel while under the influence of alcohol, according to the accident report filed by Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission officer David B. McDaniel, the newspaper stated.

The 18-foot ActionCraft left the Whale Harbor sandbar with the driver and four passengers, including Ms Stapff and Mr. Hampson, just before sunset on Mother?s Day, May 14.

The accident report stated the boat was approaching a creek through a narrow cut when the driver swerved left to avoid an object in the water, then quickly corrected sharply to the right, causing a passenger to fall into him. This apparently caused him to lose control.

The boat travelled about 20 yards along the edge of the mangroves until an overhanging branch snagged the poling platform, causing the boat to hit the mangroves.

Ms Stapff was ejected from the boat, while Mr.Hampson fell backwards and hit the back of his head on the deck.

None were wearing life jackets, according to the report.