75ft BRIDGE FALL KILLS HOL BRITS
Group in river smash horror
THREE British friends have died and another is fighting for life after their car plummeted 75ft from a bridge into a river in South Africa.
Chris Naylor, 58, his wife Susanna, 54, and Miranda Harris, 66, were killed while Miranda’s husband Peter Harris, 67, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Their vehicle was reportedly shunted from behind by another as they crossed the Swartkops Bridge on the famous 450-mile Garden Route from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth on Monday.
It flipped over the crash barrier and plunged into the river below, smashing into the water on its roof.
Devastated
The Naylors’ son Samuel, 28, speaking from their Oxfordshire home said: “We are still coming to terms with what has happened.”
Samuel, who has a younger sister Chloe and younger brother Joshua, said they were working to bring their parents’ bodies home.
The four pals had been enjoying a 10-day combined adventure and working holiday. They include three Christian charity bosses and a senior teacher at an elite Christian school in Oxford.
Devastated neighbours said the couple “devoted their lives to others”.
Former clergyman Peter, from West Lavington, Wilts, who set up charity A Rocha International with his wife, was pulled still breathing from the wreckage.
He was last night said to be in a critical condition in St George’s Hospital, Port Elizabeth. Two of his children have flown out to be by his bedside. An autopsy carried out yesterday found the victims died from the impact.
Their driver Thando Kalipa, 55, who was saved from the river, is recovering. He is said to have told police a car driving behind them had hit a trailer loaded with the tourists’ luggage attached to their car. South Africa detectives are investigating.