Model hurt during filming

Taiwanese supermodel Lin Chi-ling fell off a horse and injured her chest yesterday while filming a skin care commercial in Dalian .

Lin, dubbed Taiwan's 'perfect woman', was thrown off when the horse broke into a gallop, her manager, Chiang Yi-jung, said in Taipei.

The supermodel tried to control the horse but fell off, Ms Chiang said, and injured a rib cartilage.

However, media reports in Dalian said that in addition to the rib injury there were scratches on Lin's face and body. Doctors at Dalian Medical College Hospital, where she was treated, were not available for comment.

Ms Chiang said Lin was experiencing pain while speaking and breathing and, at the suggestion of doctors in Dalian, would rest for at least three days before flying back to Taiwan.

Lin's mother, Wu Tsu-mei, said yesterday she had been unable to contact her daughter directly. Sobbing uncontrollably during phone interviews with Taiwanese television reporters, she said she was planning to fly to Dalian as soon as possible to see her daughter.