UK car river plunge kills four children

A father told today of his devastation at the loss of his four youngest children, who died after the Land Rover he was driving plunged into a river in the UK.

Nigel Gresham was behind the wheel of the vehicle carrying his partner and their seven sons and daughters when it left a narrow track, near Coningsby, Lincolnshire, and crashed 15ft into the River Witham on Sunday afternoon, said police.

Members of the public dived into the water to help him drag a number of his children from the submerged vehicle.

But their frantic efforts and the attempts of doctors failed to save the lives of four of them.

The youngest, two-year-old Willow, died on Sunday.

Since then, the crash has claimed the lives of six-year-old Thor, Angel, four, and Keavy, eight.

Amber Gresham, nine, remained in a Leicester hospital today in a stable condition, said Lincolnshire Police.

The other two children – Star, 13, and Liam, 12 – and the mother of all seven, Sara Bolland, escaped without serious injury.

In a statement released through Lincolnshire Police, Mr Gresham, 36, said: “We are totally devastated by what has happened and I hope no-one else ever has to go through what we are going through. Each of my children is like a ray of light.”