Wales student recovers after Goa scooter crash leaves her with amnesia

Olivia North still cannot remember the scooter crash that left her in a Goa hospital coma, and her family has spent weeks tracing the fallout from one missed helmet and one badly timed ride back to accommodation.

The 21-year-old from Aberystwyth, Wales, suffered a severe brain injury on May 5 while travelling through India on a gap year. Her father, Nic North, said the family lost contact with her for two days before ringing hostels and friends and finally locating her in intensive care in Goa, where he flew out fearing she might not recognise him.

At first, Olivia North could not remember some family members or even her own name. Nic North said she is still exhausted, able to walk only about 100 metres before needing to sleep, even as doctors have now cleared her to fly back to the UK at the end of the week and continue treatment in Cardiff. Her recovery will continue after a frightening stretch in which a routine travel day turned into an emergency with no quick local fix.

Her trip had taken her through Rishikesh, Pushkar, Hampi and Mumbai after she finished her second year studying Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. She had worked in bars and restaurants to save money for the journey, a familiar pattern for young travellers chasing a low-cost adventure that can become vastly more expensive once serious injury enters the picture.

Nic North said Olivia was riding back to accommodation by scooter when she smashed her head on the road or a wall and was knocked unconscious. He said she was not wearing a helmet and urged other gap-year travellers to treat helmet use as non-negotiable. The fundraiser he set up says she suffered a subdural haematoma with contusion and a 3.6mm bleed on her brain, while the family has already spent thousands of pounds on flights, accommodation and private medical care.

The wider danger is not abstract. The World Health Organization has said India lost approximately 300,000 lives to road crashes in 2016, with pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists among the hardest hit. In Goa alone, police data reported 541 two-wheeler deaths from January 2021 to December 2023, including 357 helmetless riders, and traffic enforcement figures showed more than 25% of violations in 2025 were tied to helmet non-use. Goa has since moved to make helmets mandatory for riders and pillion riders, a policy shift that underlines how quickly a cheap scooter hire can turn into a long medical ordeal for families far from home.