Three Britons die as car plunges from bridge in South Africa
THREE British tourists have been killed in South Africa after their car plummeted off a bridge and into the river 75ft below.
Former clergyman Peter Harris, 67, who set up the international conservation charity A Rocha, was the only member of the group to survive but remains in a critical condition in hospital. His wife, Miranda, 66, and friends of 25 years, Chris and Susanna Naylor, died in the accident.
The Harrises and Mr Naylor, 58, all worked for A Rocha, while Mrs Naylor, 54, was a senior teacher at the £17,000-a-year Christ Church Cathe- dral School in Oxford.
They were on their way to the airport on Monday to fly back to England after a 10-day “dream holiday” when their Toyota wagon and luggage trailer was involved in a collision with another vehicle as they crossed the 980ftlong Swartkops Bridge, resulting in them being flipped over the crash barrier.
A post-mortem examination found that the three victims died from either the impact with the barrier or on landing.
Mr Harris, a former Anglican clergyman based in Liverpool, set up the A Rocha charity – which means “The Rock” – with his wife in 1983 when they opened their first field study conservation project in Portugal.
They lived in the village of West Lavington, Wilts, close to their four children and six grandchildren.
Their Christian organisation, which is based in the UK, has spread to more than 20 countries including the United States, Brazil, Australia and Canada as well as nations in South America, the Middle East and Africa.
The charity has an income of £5million a year from government grants and donations, and calls itself an “international network of environmental organisations with a Christian ethos”.
Mr Naylor, who was appointed chief executive of A Rocha in 2010, met his wife while they were both studying at Cambridge University. They have three children, Chloe, Joshua and Sam.
An A Rocha staff member described the friends as “wonderful people”, adding: “They said they were on a dream holiday, although it was also a working trip, and they said they were finishing it with a trip to the Addo Elephant National Park to see the ‘big five’.
“I cannot believe that three of the nicest people have been taken from us like this and I am praying for Peter to survive.”