British father dies in Greece riding on a blow-up sofa towed by speedboat
A BRITISH father has died while on an inflatable sofa being pulled by a speedboat.
Simon Crewe, 57, was one of three passengers on the ride near a beach holiday resort in Greece.
Witnesses said there was a ‘massive bang’ and his brother David – who was next to Mr Crewe – was hit on the head by an unidentified object.
Mr Crewe’s partner, Vicki Hewitt, 49, was in the speedboat and said she saw the sofa bounce heavily.
Their friend was thrown into the air and landed in the sea, where he lay unconcious. He was last night still in hospital with internal injuries following the drama on Tuesday.
As David tried to help the man in the water, he turned to his brother and realised he had collapsed. Miss Hewitt, from Whetstone, Leicestershire, told her local newspaper: ‘We were looking for the third person in the water and saw him floating face up.
‘Then I looked at the sofa and saw Simon lying very still and shouted the driver, who was getting the person in the water up on to the boat.
‘The driver then swam over to the sofa. I could see them doing CPR on Simon.’
Mr Crewe, a carpenter also from Whetstone, had been on the island of Kefalonia for six days for ‘ the most fantastic holiday ever’.
The tragedy unfolded off the Costa Costa beach on the south coast during the final day of their trip. Greek police are investigating, but last night there was still no indication of what caused the incident.
The owner of the speedboat company has been questioned by officers. Mr Crewe’s brother said: ‘ Simon had his heart set on having a go on the inflatable yellow sofa we’d seen being pulled out by speedboat – a bit like the banana boat rides.
‘It was the last day [of the holiday] so me and the two other men from our party of six agreed and got on the sofa.’
He added: ‘Two of our partners, including his partner Vicki, got into the speedboat with the driver. The ride had begun and there was a massive bang. Something hit my head. I thought we had hit a wave. ‘Our friend was thrown into the sea. I turned to Simon and I don’t know what happened, but I watched him die.’ Miss Hewitt, who described father-of-three Mr Crewe as ‘the very best of men’, said the three on the ride were wearing life jack- ets. She has now flown home, but Mr Crewe’s body is still in Greece while an inquest is carried out. Tributes to Mr Crewe have described him as ‘larger than life’ and ‘full of fun’. A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘Our staff have offered advice to the partner of a British man who died in Greece. We remain in contact with Greek authorities.’