Second girl, 11, dies after New Year’s Eve hit-run driver mows into cousins
A GIRL of 11 has died following a hit-and-run which also killed her 12-year-old cousin.
Zaneta Krokova was left critically injured after she and Helina Kotlarova were flung into the air by a car as they crossed the road handin-hand on New Year’s Eve.
Helina was pronounced dead at the scene, while younger cousin Zaneta was taken to hospital, where she died yesterday.
As police held four men on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, they released pictures of the battered Peugeot 807 people carrier which hit the girls in Oldham on New Year’s Eve.
A fifth man – the driver of a VW Golf initially thought to have been involved – was released, police said.
Relatives of the girls – who had moved to England from the Czech Republic with their families eight years ago – spoke of their distress at witnessing the crash.
Helina’s 19-year- old sister Sylva told how she and her parents rushed to the scene 100 yards from their home seconds after the crash.
Helina died in her mother’s arms. ‘Her face was all bloody,’ Miss Kotlarova said. ‘She did not breathe. Mum was touching her hair.’ Relatives said Helina, who had seven sisters and one brother, loved music and had dreamed of being a singer.
Zaneta and Helina were with a group of relatives and friends who had gone to a local shop ahead of a New Year’s Eve party. The others had already crossed the road and were waiting on the opposite pavement when the cousins were mown down at around 7.15pm. Yesterday, Greater Manchester Police were still questioning four men aged 59, 48, 38 and 18 who were arrested on Sunday.
They released photographs of a blue Peugeot 807 found abandoned after the crash, which they have established is the vehicle which hit the girls.
Sergeant Lee Westhead said: ‘The Peugeot is very distinctive and I am releasing pictures of the vehicle in an attempt to establish its movements on December 31.
‘The vehicle is dark blue, people carrier-shaped and is in poor physical condition and, notably, has preexisting damage to its rear window.’
Sgt Westhead said police were also keen to trace the occupants of a white Citroen Dispatch van, which did not hit anyone but was in the immediate vicinity of the crash.