Irish couple fighting for their lives after losing son and unborn baby

English road crash has tragic consequence for holiday-makers

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An Irish couple are fighting for their lives in an English hospital – after a Polish suicide driver rammed their car and killed their son and unborn baby.

Photo by � SWNS.com/BBC Spotlight

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An Irish couple are fighting for their lives in an English hospital – after a Polish suicide driver rammed their car and killed their son and unborn baby.

The unnamed family – from the South of Ireland – were on holiday in the English coastal resort of Torquay when tragedy struck.

Their car was hit head on by a young Polish driver who has since died in the same hospital where doctors are fighting to save the father’s life.

Police now believe that the Polish driver ‘ploughed into them head-on on purpose’ in a suicide bid.

The Irish Mail on Sunday reports that eye witnesses claim the Polish driver ploughed into the second car deliberately.

He was arrested before being taken to hospital, where he subsequently died

The couple’s two-year-old son died immediately in the crash while the pregnant mother also lost her unborn baby.

A police spokesman said the 36-year-old mother and 39-year-old father have undergone operations.

He said: “The male driver remains in intensive care in Derriford Hospital, Plymouth and in a critical condition having undergone surgery.

“The 36-year-old woman, who was a front seat passenger, was initially conveyed to Torbay Hospital but later transferred by land ambulance to Derriford Hospital where she remains in a critical condition.

“The female casualty was pregnant and an operation was carried out to save the unborn child. However, the child did not survive.”

The crash was witnessed by a police officer who was immediately on the scene.

A total of 25 emergency service vehicles attended the incident, along with three air ambulances which helped to take all four occupants of the cars to hospital.

The spokesman said: “The weather conditions at the time were challenging, with heavy rain falling creating an extremely difficult working environment for the emergency services and was very traumatic for all involved.

“Family liaison officers have been appointed to support the families.”

Paul Netherton, Assistant Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police told the paper: “This was an extremely traumatic incident where emergency services were working on the family at the scene and subsequently in ambulances and at the hospital, and it has been traumatic on all those involved.

“It was a head-on collision at speed. The black Vectra was coming down the hill and appears to have swerved into the path of the oncoming car.”

He added that the adverse weather conditions did not contribute to the cause of the collision.

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