A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl died last night after skateboarding into the path of a neighbour's car.

Kristina Jacobs was playing on the driveway of her home with her brother and a friend when she lost control of the board and rolled into the road.

Today her devastated family was struggling to come to terms with the loss of Kristina, described as a bubbly, outgoing tomboy.

Meanwhile, friends, classmates and teachers at Whitehill Infant School, Crowborough, where Kristina was a pupil, were being told of the tragedy.

Kristina, her brother Charlie, nine, and their friend Mark Stanton, eight, who lives opposite, were playing in the quiet Innham's Wood cul-de-sac at Crowborough, a lane where traffic is controlled by speed bumps, when she shot out of the drive into the road.

She was lying on the skateboard on her tummy when she was hit by a Mercedes driven by neighbour Bernadette Wetherill, 40.

Charlie ran back to the house to tell his mother, Julie, what had happened.

She then cradled her daughter in her arms while a neighbour dialled 999 for an ambulance.

Other neighbours rushed to help and attempted first aid until paramedics arrived.

Kristina was taken to the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, but had suffered massive head injuries and died later.

Julie said today: "As far as I can make out, Kristina was going down the driveway and a car was coming and they just didn't see each other.

"The driver must be so devastated."

She added: "Kristina was such an outgoing, lovely little tomboy. She was very popular at school. She was just so bubbly."

Mark also rushed home to tell his parents what had happened.

His father, Martin, 47, who tried to help Kristina after the accident at 6.50pm, said: "The first we knew was when Mark came rushing in to say Kristina had been knocked over.

"We dialled 999 and then went out to try and help. The ambulance came very quickly.

"It's really very sad. She was a charming, fun-loving little girl. This is a very tight-knit community. We all know what her mother must be going through."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.