A schoolboy has been left blind in one eye after he fell from his bike and accidentally rammed the handlebar into his eye socket.

Ciaran Donnelly, nine, had been out on his bike during the school holidays when he found himself being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

He had swerved to avoid hitting his little sister Amy, six, causing him to fall off when and the handle bar sunk into his left eye.

The youngster, from Greenock, Inverclyde, has now suffered a loss of vision and has to wear a patch while going through operations to reattach the muscles in his eye.

His mother Leona, 38, said: “He fell off his bike and the handle bar went into his eye. It was horrible.

“We first thought that he had a black eye but it’s turned out to be far worse. It’s very unlikely that he will get his vision back.

“There’s not much we can do.”

His father Kevin, 41, said: “It was an innocuous accident but it’s created all sorts of problems, including fractured bones in his eye socket.

“It swelled up so much and because of the pressure and optic nerve was starved of oxygen and muscle detached from the eye.

“Now he’s lost sight in his left eye. He can’t see anything, it’s pitch black.”

Ciaran was initially taken to Inverclyde Royal before being rushed to the Royal Alexandra in Paisley, and then the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Govan, Glasgow.

He received emergency surgery and doctors tried to relieve the swelling and repair the damage.

Ciaran was yesterday back in hospital for an operation to reattach muscles to his eye but his parents said it was unlikely that he would be able to see again.

Kevin also said he was grateful to the staff at the Queen Elizabeth who helped his boy.

Ciaran, a keen footballer, plays for Morton 2008s side and has just returned to training.

He was invited to be a VIP guest at a recent training session where he met the first team, including his favourite player Jai Quitongo.

Ciaran said: “It was good watching the players and to get their autographs.