Six-year-old among two dead in Derbyshire crash

Policed have announced a six-year-old girl has died in an early-morning car crash in Derbyshire on Sunday (30 April). A 29-year-old man was also killed while a 22-year-old woman was taken to hospital with "life-threatening" injuries.

No other vehicles were involved in the fatal crash on the A609 Kilbourne Road, apart from the blue Fiat Panda, which crashed at around 1.25am. It is not clear exactly how the crash happened but a video of the scene of the accident posted by local news outlet, the Derby Telegraph, shows sawdust on the road and around a stone wall next to the pavement.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Derbyshire Police wrote: "Our officers were called to Kilbourne Road in Belper this morning at 1.25am to reports of a serious collision.

"A blue Fiat Panda was involved in a collision and two people received fatal injuries.

"A 29-year-old man and a six-year-old girl were pronounced dead at the scene and a 22-year-old woman was taken to the Queens Medical Centre with life-threatening injuries where she remains in a critical condition."

Though the victims have not yet been named, they are believed to be local. Tom Reith, a resident of the small town in North Derbyshire and one of the first on the scene, said he recognised the adults, one of whom he said was in the same year as him at school.

Speaking to the Derby Telegraph, Reith, who lives on Kilbourne Road, said he was woken by the sound of the collision, and went out to the road to see if he could help.

Describing the scene he said: "It was horrendous, terrible, there was a man and woman in the front and a little girl in the back. People were trying to get to them but I said we needed to leave them there for the paramedics.

"I recognised the two adults, one of them in the same year as me at school. It is just so awful."

The number of reported injuries due to road accidents in the UK in 2015 was 186,209, according to government statistics. 22,137 of those were serious accidents, representing an 11% decrease in the total number since 2010.

Police are asking anyone with information on the collision or who has dash cam footage is asked to contact them on 101 quoting incident number 92 of April 30.