Rach Baker, 25, was pulled by her hair from the underwater wreckage of a plane crash in Queensland, Australia

Rach Baker, 25, cheated death when the private plane she was in smashed into the ground before spinning out of control and sinking in a lake in Queensland, Australia.

The private flight had taken off and explored the coast, giving a bird's eye view of the Great Barrier Reef, before returning to the airfield.

But instead of landing safely the plane crashed into the ground and within seconds had fallen into the water.

She and the other five passengers began to panic and scramble for the exits of the single-engine Piper Cherokee 6 but Rach's seatbelt became stuck, preventing her escape.

After four of the group were able to free themselves she and a friend were both left gasping for breath in a tiny pocket of air at the top of the plane.

Emergency crews treat Rach Baker at the scene of the crash

Finally, after swimming to find another exit, her friend Chad jumped back into the lake and was able to drag her by her hair from the water at Lakeside Airfield, near Proserpine, on the east coast of the country.

Despite suffering fractured vertebrae and requiring hospital treatment, the former Chandler's Ford resident says her spinal cord has not been injured and her feeling and mobility has not been permanently affected.

Speaking to the Daily Echo from her hospital bed, Rach said: "Once the doors opened it filled very quickly and I can't remember the others getting out, but I remember it being me and my friend being the last two in there and we were both gasping for this tiny pocket of air at the top of the plane, and she looked as terrified as I felt.

Rach Baker (left) and friend Courtney Magnuson on the plane before it crashed

"All I could think at this point was 'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die'. She was then pulled from the wreckage and it was just me.

"Finally my friend Chad grabbed me and managed to pull me out by my hair - he had come back down for me and saved my life.

"I'm just so happy to be alive and well enough to tell this story myself and feel like it's a miracle that I have no permanent damage."

The submerged plane after the crash

The crash happened at about 4pm on Sunday and Rach, who grew up in Hampshire and attended Thornden School, has been recuperating in hospital since.

She has travelled in Australia, Cambodia and Vietnam for a number of years and returned to beauty spot Airlie Beach, on the north-east coast of Australia.

Until the crash she worked on a tourist boat called Wings and hosted trips around the Whitsunday Islands of the Great Barrier Reef and says that despite her injuries she would like to remain in the country until her visa expires in February.

Her father James Baker, a construction manager, was shocked when he heard the news but relieved to discover his daughter wasn't more seriously injured in the crash.

He said: "I know that she has been quite traumatised by not just the impact, but the experience of feeling that she was going to drown.

"I'm just hoping that she doesn't have any long-lasting post-traumatic stress disorder.

"She's very sociable and she's got a lot of friends around here. She came home recently for two weeks visit and it was lovely to see her."

Lifelong friend Jodie Brown said: "I was really shocked when I heard the news.

"They are looking after her really well out there but she's a bit scared and quite traumatised, and keeps having nightmares."

If you would like to donate to a fundraising campaign to help Rach with her care please visit crowdfunding.justgiving.com/lucy-cockayne.