Mates give account of Dyfan's crash with lorry in China

* Louis gives details of his friend's crash with a lorry.

Two young lads have given a gripping account of the horrific crash with a lorry which left their friend in a Chinese hospital suffering a catalogue of serious injuries early last month - and explain the hopeful conclusion.

Dyfan Hughes from Llangollen, Louis Dennis from Garth and James Thomas from Wrexham, all aged 19, were on one of the final stages of their 10,000-mile cycling trip to Thailand in memory of Tony Edge, the father of their friend Harrison, who died following a heart attack in 2024 and along the way raising money for the British Heart Foundation - so far notching up over £50,000.

Three weeks ago they were cycling through the Chinese city of Chengdu when Dyfan was in a terrifying collision with a large lorry, which left him with multiple injuries to his legs, neck and scalp.

His two mates have been keeping their many supporters back home in touch with developments through regular videos from China, where they have been keeping Dyfan company along with his parents who are also at his bedside.

In their latest update they take it in turns to explain exactly how the crash happened and describe the frightening aftermath. 

Louis first: "Dyf was cycling down the side of the road in a cycle lane and at the junction was going straight on as the lights were green.

"In China whoever is in the cycle lane has the right of way, so Dyf was going straight over the road. But what he didn't know was that there was a big lorry on his left that hadn't seen him, that was turning right. So as Dyf was going over the road, the lorry turned right straight into Dyf. Dyf went under the bonnet and the lorry ran over his legs."

James takes up the story: "At the time of the crash Louis was a few kilometres ahead of Dyf and I was a few kilometres behind. We planned to meet up at this restaurant and Dyf had been inactive for about an hour on his phone. Then I found a pair of Dyf's shoes on the floor at the junction. 

"I was immediately frightened, so I called Louis who was at a restaurant. Louis then got the restaurant owner to call the police and they let us know he was in a hospital 30 minutes away.

"It was a stressful half-hour by taxi to the hospital but when we got there we found Dyf and he was conscious and talking."   

Louis again: "Given the extent of his injuries it means that when Dyf is able to get on a plane we are going to have to fly home and complete the rest of his treatment at home.

"This doesn't mean that the trip is over. It just means that it's on pause for now. We are just getting started."

The video ends with a message from Dyfan himself, who says to camera: "I just want to say a massive, massive thank you from me, the lads and my family for all the nice, supportive comments. It's so amazing to know that we've got such a lovely group of people watching our videos.

"I've got my last operation in China on Saturday and hopefully, a couple of weeks later, we'll be flying home."  

* How the crash happened.

Dyfan's injuries are:

* Open fracture of left ankle joint

* Degloving injury of left lower foot

* Fracture of left foot

* Fracture of lower section of right fibula

* Extensive scalp avulsion (tearing)

* Fracture of distal left fibula

* Compression fracture of vertebra

* James tells part of the story.