By David Love

A HEARTBROKEN mother has spoken of how her "little angel went to heaven with a smile on her face" after being struck by lightning on holiday in Cuba.

Nine-year-old Grace Meek was walking hand in hand, laughing and joking with her nine-year-old cousin Isla when the pair were caught in a fierce lightning storm as they ran for cover at their hotel.

Grace's mother, 41-year-old Kay Thompson of Invergordon, Easter Ross, watched as the two collapsed on the ground below a coconut tree, still holding hands after being struck by a bolt of lightning.

Thompson said: "I am sure Grace saved Isla's life because she took the brunt of the strike.

"I am devastated that my little angel has gone, but I am so glad that she didn't suffer any pain and that she died in paradise. She died instantly. She had been laughing and joking seconds before, and when I looked at her she had a smile on her face.

"I knew right away from her eyes that she was gone. But there was no fear on her face and she didn't suffer. She died instantly. I think her little heart just stopped - an act of God. It is a small consolation. At least my little angel went to heaven with a smile on her face."

Thompson and her daughter had gone on holiday with her sister, Lynn Thompson, 35, Lynn's partner, 37-year-old oil worker Ian 'Cammy' Ross, and their three children, Isla, Eve, aged five, and Ian, four, all of Invergordon.

Lynn had only asked Kay and Grace to join them on their "holiday of a lifetime" a week before they left, on July 12. They were due to return this week but flew back on Friday, two days after the tragedy.

Grace's older brother and sister, Jaye Sinclair, 18, and 16-year-old Holly, stayed at their Invergordon home.

Thompson said: "We were having a great holiday. We kept saying we were in paradise and the people were so nice."

Thompson, added that Grace's father, Adrian Meek, 47, of Inverness, flew to the Caribbean island yesterday to be with his daughter while they wait for her body to be flown home in seven to 10 days.

"He is devastated. It will be a dreadfully lonely journey for him. He desperately wanted to go to see her one last time. He will take her back, hopefully next week.

"I didn't want to leave but we discussed it carefully and were told the formalities could take many days. We met some very nice people on holiday and they promised they would look after her. Grace's father was also going to be there at the weekend, so we all decided we could go home."

The tragedy struck last Wednesday when the holidaymakers went to collect belongings they had left by the pool at their hotel. Thompson said: "It was pouring with rain and we were running. Cammy was about 10 feet in front of me and the girls were about three to four feet behind me.

"I was joking with everyone that we had survived the boat trip, but we would probably get hit on the head by a coconut falling of one of the trees. The kids thought this was really funny. Then all of a sudden there was this mighty crash like a bomb going off. A bolt of lightning struck the coconut tree and shattered it.

"I felt the shock going through my feet and still have pins and needles in my legs and arms. I felt a crack and the pavement move. I felt everything move.

"When I turned around I saw the two girls lying on the ground and thought they had dived for cover but as soon as I saw their eyes I knew they had been struck by lightning."

Thompson said the pair were lying very close together because they had been holding hands.

"I shouted to Cammy. I just screamed and screamed 'Help! Help!' and a lovely woman came. We took the girls to her apartment. Cammy put Isla in the recovery position and she came to straight away and started crying.

"He tried and tried with Grace. He pumped her heart and gave her mouth-to-mouth but it was no good.

"Then a doctor and staff from the hotel came and they worked on her, but eventually the manager came out and said she was dead. I was devastated."

Thompson said she did not think she would really be able to accept that Grace had gone until her body was brought home.

"Grace was my little angel," she said. "She was a quiet little girl. She loved swimming, listening to music, collecting fairies and teddies. She also loved her hamster, Dunston, and her cat, Molly. Her brother Jaye said they ran out of angels in Heaven and took Grace.

"It was an act of God. I'm told that there was only a 14 million-to-one chance of getting struck by lightning in Cuba."

Grace, who was a pupil at Park Primary School, Invergordon, is also survived by her grandparents, Ann and Ken Thompson, of Invergordon, and Tessa Meek, of Invergordon.

Margaret MacPherson, acting chairwoman of Invergordon Community Council, said: "We were very sorry to hear about Grace. It has been such a sad time for the whole community. Everybody is just shattered. They can't believe it happened.

"Grace was just an angel. She was so beautiful and absolutely lovely. She and her mother were inseparable. You never saw one without the other."

And Alness florist Carolyn Wilson, who is also a Highland councillor, said: "Everybody locally is shocked. It was obviously a freak accident and to lose a child in this way is unthinkable.

"It was a happy family holiday and I think the sympathy of everybody in the community will be extended to them."

A spokeswoman at the Foreign Office said they were providing consular assistance to the family and were in touch with the tour operator.

Source: Scotland on Sunday