A British holidaymaker who witnessed a fire stunt that went tragically wrong and killed a 6-year-old girl in Turkey described how fireballs flew into the audience creating a "wall of flame".

Tourists at the resort, many of them children, were watching the entertainment at the Gemini Park Holiday resort on the Aegean coast when the accident happened.

Eden Galvani-Skeete, 6, from Ilford, Essex, who was on holiday with her mother Helen Zachariou, was caught in the blast and died from her injuries. Tonight her parents issued a statement. They said: "Eden was the light of our world. She radiated joy and happiness with her big smile and infectious personality.

"Anyone that came into contact with her would never forget her. Eden’s precious life was cut short by this untimely tragedy."

Three young children, two girls and a boy, and the boy’s teenage brother are still being treated in a private hospital in Kusadasi along with two adults.

Two of the injured children are believed to be 13-year-old friends Shona Allan, who has burns to her arms and face, and Sarah Hunter, who has suffered second degree burns. Both girls, from Carlisle, were just feet away from the fire-eater on Saturday when a bottle of flammable liquid he was holding is thought to have exploded.

Sarah’s father, Mark, from Carlisle, described the horror. He said that an alcohol-based inflammable liquid was laid across the front of the dance floor.

"This produced a wall of flame about 18" to two feet high which I would imagine extinguished after about ten to 15 seconds. At that point there was no problem.

"It was then repeated and it was at this point that there was a massive explosion and the fireballs produced into the audience, and it was this time that there was total chaos and that people suffered their injuries.

"The fire swept through the cane chairs and cushions and everything was alight. It was absolute panic. people were jumping into the swimming pool.

"We never expected anything like this to happen. We just can’t believe it’s happened. The petrol soaked through the seat. Sarah received burns to the back of her legs. The girls are bearing up and in discomfort but they want to go home.

"You see these things on the TV with bombs going off and this was just like it."

He said it could be another ten days before his daughter would be well enough to go home.

Shona’s father, Robert, 50, said his wife was also injured, suffering burns to her feet but he expects the family to fly home tomorrow.

Ms Zachariou flew back to England on Wednesday and her daughter’s body was expected to be flown back tonight. A neighbour, calling the mother Ellie, said: "She absolutely doted on her daughter and vice versa. They adored each other. Eden was a bubbly, beautiful little girl. She was so sweet and caring.

"Ellie came back to see us when she came back from Turkey. She was crying and said very quietly ‘Eden has gone, my darling Eden has been taken away’.

"She was crying so hard it was difficult to hear what she was saying. She said something went out of control, there was an explosion and Eden bore the full brunt of it.

"She was devastated, completely in heartbroken and just in shock."

Another near neighbour said: "They are so nice, the mother is a lovely person and she must be in terrible shock."

Michael Foundly, managing director of Bristol-based Seasons Holidays, whose guests at the resort included the Hunter family, although not Eden, said his firm had requested the "fire dances" be stopped.

He described the show that started the fire. "It was a fire display of a sort which is fairly commonly seen in Turkey. You pour some meths on the ground and set fire to it, producing a very wispy 6in flame that dies out very quickly.

"They did it once, then they poured the bottle on top to do the thing again. Unfortunately there was a small spark that hadn’t died out from the first display.

"Needless to say we have stopped repeats of any such shows, but these kinds of displays go on throughout Turkey all the time."

A spokesman at the private hospital in Kusadasi, said: "They are all getting well very quickly, three of them are small children, but they are not seriously injured. They have some burns and some of them could be released within a few days but that is up to the doctors."

A coroner will look into the death and then decide if there is to be an inquest.

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