A pensioner was badly injured on Tuesday after being caught in a horse stampede at a Norwegian beauty spot.

Lily Davies, who is in her late seventies, was one of 15 people injured as they returned from the Briksdal glacier by horse-drawn carriage.

Mrs Davies, of Hillclough Grove, Laycock, was yesterday recovering in hospital, in Norway, from injuries sustained when she fell from the carriage.

Tour operator Bibby's, of Ingleton, said she was in a comfortable condition and waiting to come home.

Mrs Davies and fellow tourists suffered injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to fractured bones.

Speaking from her hospital bed, Mrs Davies said she had been told not to talk to anybody about what happened.

She said: "I'm not up to speaking about it. I don't feel well at all. I've been through such a lot."

Neighbours described Mrs Davies, whose husband Walter died about two years ago, as an active woman who loved photography and going out to play card games.

She took up watercolour painting at Keighley College in her early seventies and was president of the Leica Postal Portfolios, a nationwide camera club.

Mrs Davies was among 49 people from Yorkshire and Lancashire on a trip to western Norway with coach operator Bibby's.

The group was returning from the picturesque glacier, which has been attracting British tourists for more than 140 years.

Fifteen Britons were thrown to the ground when one horse bolted -- possibly after being stung by a wasp -- and panicked the others, causing the carts to overturn.

Eyewitnesses said the 17 horses stampeded over a tiny bridge on the steep downhill path then tried to get around a sharp left turn.

Several passengers were thrown from the carts, with four having to be airlifted to hospital. Two of the 15 casualties underwent surgery.

Police said the glacier path had been the scene of several accidents in the past five years, including one death when a Japanese tourist was thrown from a carriage.

Nils Erik Eggen, a Norwegian police spokesman, said his team would look carefully into the incident.

He said: "The horses panicked for some reason. At the moment we do not know what scared them."

Sheila Holcroft, a spokesman for Bibby's, said the company was doing all it could to support the passengers, who came from across Yorkshire and Lancashire.

She said that the trip had been a "one-off" for the company, which was one of the main bus operators in the North Craven region.

Miss Holcroft said relatives were not travelling to Norway because the tourists would be flying home "very shortly".

She said: "The welfare of all the passengers is our first priority."

Excursions to the glacier by horse-drawn carriage have been temporarily suspended and may not resume for the rest of the summer season.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said it was providing assistance to all British nationals involved in the incident and their families.