A British boy seriously injured in a third-floor hotel plunge lost his balance as he went to fetch a towel hanging over his balcony, it emerged today.

The eight-year-old, who suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as a skull fracture and broken jaw following Tuesday night’s horror fall from the third floor of a hotel in San Antonio, Ibiza, was with his grandmother at the time, according to local news outlets. Police investigators confirmed overnight the incident was being treated as an accident, and hospital chiefs are expected to update the injured youngster’s condition later today. He was airlifted to an intensive care unit at Majorca’s Son Espases Hospital following an emergency op at a private local clinic

A regional government-run emergency response coordination centre activated a poly trauma alert so the first hospital he was taken to could prepare for his arrival. Civil Guard chiefs issued a green alert so officers could clear traffic for the ambulance and make sure the youngster got to the medical centre as soon as possible

Clinica Nuestra Señora del Rosario, the private hospital where he had an emergency op on Tuesday night, confirmed his catalogue of injuries after his admission.

Medics diagnosed severe brain trauma, saying he had a skull fracture, subdural haematoma and a cerebral oedema. They also listed injuries including a fractured jaw and chest trauma. The transfer to Majorca reportedly occurred because no paediatric intensive care unit beds were available in Ibiza.