Two British nationals have died and a third has been critically injured after their car smashed into a suspected drugs traffickers’ speedboat that came off a trailer on a vehicle travelling in front of them on a Spanish dual-carriageway.
The trio were the first to hit the ‘narcolancha’ when it ended up on the tarmac near the resort of La Manga.
Police today confirmed the nationalities of the victims, saying another eight people in six cars travelling behind them were injured in the mass pile-up.
The driver of the vehicle which had been carrying the suspect vessel on a trailer fled the scene and was still being hunted by police today.
The death smash occurred around 9.30pm last night on the RM-12, a dual carriageway known colloquially as La Manga motorway, near to El Algar between La Manga and Cartagena.
Local press initially described the two people who died as two women, saying this morning they were ‘foreign tourists’ aged around 40.
A Civil Guard spokesman confirmed the pair’s nationalities at midday today, saying both they and the critically injured victim ‘were British men aged 47 to 54.’
The spokesman said: ‘The accident happened around 9.30pm last night on the RM-12 around the El Algar municipality.
A semi-rigid boat on board a trailer a vehicle was pulling came off and ended on the road across both lanes.
‘A car travelling behind it with three British men inside aged between 47 and 54 smashed into the vessel. Two of those people died and another, who was the driver, was critically injured.
‘Eight other people travelling in six vehicles behind them also crashed into the boat and were injured.
The driver of the vehicle that was travelling with the speed boat on the trailer fled the scene.
‘He has yet to be arrested. The boat he was carrying that ended up on the dual-carriageway has all the characteristics of a so-called ‘narco lancha’ involved in drug trafficking and an investigation is ongoing.’
It was not immediately clear today if the unnamed British nationals were on holiday or lived in the area.
It is also not yet known if they were travelling in a hire car or owned the car they were in.
A spokesman for a regional emergency response coordination centre confirmed the two people who died were British men and not women as initially reported
In a statement, they said: ‘Emergency health responders have been unable to save the lives of two people who died as a result of the injuries they suffered in a multiple traffic collision on the RM-12 in the direction of La Manga, which occurred in the municipality of El Algar.
‘We received more than 30 calls alerting us to the accident at 21.32 local time yesterday. The witnesses spoke about eight vehicles being involved in the pile-up, which was apparently caused by a semi-rigid Zodiac which fell from a trailer it was being transported on.
‘Several callers told us some of the vehicles had rolled multiple times and there were people trapped and injured to varying degrees.
‘Five ambulances with emergency medical personnel were sent to the scene, as well as Civil Protection workers, firefighters and Civil Guard patrols.
‘We can confirm the deaths of two people.
‘A man aged 21 was assisted at the scene. Four people, two women aged 18 and 55 and two men aged 19 and 29, were taken to Santa Lucia Hospital in Cartagena while a man aged 51 was taken to La Arrixaca Hospital in Murcia’.
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