Pastor’s daughter, 6, killed in freak badminton accident while on vacation

Tragedy struck a New Jersey family during a vacation when a freak badminton accident led to the death of their six-year-old daughter.

Lucy Morgan died on Wednesday, four days after a badminton racquet broke and a piece of the frame pierced her skull.

The incident occurred during the family's vacation in Maine, according to the New York Post.

The family was enjoying their final day at a rental cottage in Limerick, Maine, according to her father, Pastor Jesse Morgan.

“We were eating a quick lunch by the lake and the kids decided to try badminton in the front yard. Bethany and I were relaxing in the back when we heard screaming,” Morgan wrote in a blog post he titled "Calamity Strikes."

He said that a "freak accident" caused a badminton racquet to break on a "downward swing," meaning "a sharp piece had entered Lucy’s skull while she was sitting on the sideline and caused catastrophic injury.”

The aluminum shaft of the racquet separated from its handle, which then struck the girl and pierced her skull, investigators said.

When EMS workers arrived to treat her, Lucy was breathing but was unresponsive. She was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Portland, Maine for treatment, according to the Maine State Police.

Doctors attempted to treat Lucy — and at one point had to revive her after her heart stopped — but warned her family that she had a "very slim chance" of recovery due to the extent of her injury and the damage it caused her brain, Morgan wrote.

Lucy ultimately died four days after the incident.

Morgan recalled the sorrow he felt on the 350-mile drive back to their New Jersey home without his daughter.

“Every time I looked into the rearview mirror, wishing I saw Lucy munching on some chicken nuggets after we stopped at Wendy’s and only ordered for 5,” he wrote.

The horrific accident has shaken everyone in Morgan's family, including his young children, who he said were "blaming themselves and taking it hard."

Morgan's 10-year-old son was holding the racquet when the accident occurred. He reportedly asked his father "how we could ever be happy again,” according to the pastor's blog.

“We just sat on the front steps for a while crying until I finally mustered up the courage to open the door. We again collapsed in a pile on the kitchen floor crying harder as a family than we ever have,” he wrote.

Lucy's funeral will be held on 15 June at Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, the church where Morgan serves as a pastor.