A FAMILY is distraught after finding out that while they celebrated one daughter’s wedding at Gretna Green their youngest daughter was critically injured as she leapt from their blazing home.

Seventeen-year-old Grace Coe is fighting for her life after jumping from her first floor bedroom window as fire engulfed the family home in Elm Road, March.

The family is now keeping a bedside vigil at Addenbroke’s Hospital, Cambridge, where Grace was transferred from Peterborough City Hospital following Thursday’s blaze.

The family’s dog of 13 years, a cocker spaniel, died in the fire along with their guinea pigs.

Grace’s father, Michael, described today how he made the 240 mile dash to Peterborough in the early hours to see his daughter moments before she was transferred to Addenbroke’s.

He said the tragedy had left the family “devastated beyond belief”.

Grace, a former Neale-Wade pupil, was today described but hospital officials as being in a “serious but stable” condition. It is thought she suffered head injuries following the fall.

Mr Coe, who owns a car sales and repair garage next to the home in which he has lived for 22 years, said the family had been in Scotland at the time celebrating another daughter’s wedding.

Grace, now studying childcare at Peterborough College, opted to miss the wedding of her older sister Laura Jane, to continue a work experience placement at All Saints Primary School, March.

Grace, one of Mr Coe’s four children, attended Neale-Wade Community College. She is also an army cadet.

Investigations into what caused the fire - which broke out at 6.29am yesterday - are ongoing.

The house remains cordoned off.

A family member answering calls at the garage said Mr Coe was also desperate to get back into the house to retrieve the family dog and bury it.