Four women killed in car crash
bioe...@gmail.com
said today.
The six were travelling in a Vauxhall Corsa on the B4560 near Ebbw Vale
in south Wales when the accident happened.
No other vehicles are thought to have been involved in the accident
which took place between Llangynidr and Beaufort before 9.20pm
yesterday.
Dyfed-Powys Police said two male occupants of the car were taken to
hospital with injuries which were not thought to be life-threatening.
A spokesman for the South and East Wales Ambulance Trust said he
believed the dead females were aged in their late teens or early 20s.
"At around 9.10pm we had a report that a car had left the road by a
passer-by," he said.
"We were on the scene fairly quickly and when we got there, we
discovered it was a one-vehicle road traffic collision.
"The two males were walking when we got there and they were taken to
Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny.
"Unfortunately there were four fatalities. The females were
pronounced dead at the scene and their bodies were taken to Nevill Hall
Hospital."
He added: "I've driven that road several times and I imagine it
would have been very icy."
The B4560 road was closed by police investigating the scene and was not
expected to open until midday.
Local councillor Graham Hughes said: ``It's absolutely terrible and our
sympathies go out to everybody involved.
"As somebody said down the shop this morning: 'What a Christmas
present for the village'.
"It was a bad night and I know the gritters were out on the Heads of
the Valley road but whether they were on the Llangynidr road, I don't
know."
He added: "Over the years there has been accidents on that particular
road and there has been a few deaths, but not to do with the weather,
to my knowledge.
"It's an area where you must drive carefully, especially in the
weather we had last night."
Margaret Northeast, who owns a newsagent in the nearby town of Ebbw
Vale, said: "It was very cold and frosty around here last night.
"I go along that road a lot and you have to be careful. I don't know
if they were local people but if you have six in a Corsa you are asking
for trouble."
She added: "The people in Ebbw Vale are shocked but no-one seems to
know who was involved."
Roger Williams, Lib Dem MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, said: ``For the
family and friends of these people to find out last night or wake up to
the news this morning, it's horrific.
"It's a difficult piece of road that is quite exposed and, with
winter coming suddenly this year, perhaps people weren't ready for
the difficult conditions.
"It's one of those roads that, if we do get some severe weather, it
is closed early on.
"I haven't had a lot of complaints about accidents there lately, but
accidents do occur because it is on an open common and there are a lot
of animals that hang around the roadside."
He added: "Something I will be following up is whether the road was
gritted.
"I represent a fairly rural community and people use private cars a lot
to get about and I'm always having complaints that roads are not
gritted or salted as regularly as they used to be.
"I know there is a lot of pressure on highways budgets in terms of road
maintenance and treatment.
"The police will want to make their own inquiries but to have six
people in a relatively small car will raise questions.
"I think the general lesson to be learnt is not to overload cars,
particularly in difficult driving conditions and difficult terrain."
Elaine Chappell, 63, whose house is next to the Beaufort side of the
roadblock, said: ``It's a B class mountain road. You have to know the
road pretty well to go over when it's dark and frosty like it was last
night.
"It isn't the first accident we've had there - there was one
about a fortnight ago, just two minutes up the road, although we never
got to know what happened.
"Last night there were helicopters out, fire engines, ambulance and
lots of police cars from about 9.45pm.
"It went on until the early hours of the morning. You would hear the
police moving the barrier to get through and then putting it back
again."
Mrs Chappell, who is the chairwoman of the Garnlydan Tenants and
Residents' Association, added: ``It's so tragic. Everybody is going
around asking people what they know.
"It's only about six years ago that a father and son were killed on
the same road, but that was in the day and on a nice day."
Nathan Edwards, 18, from Garnlydan, near Beaufort, was a friend of one
of the girls who died in the crash.
He named her as 16-year-old Louise Jones, also from Garnlydan.
Mr Edwards said: "I provide secondary communication for the police,
fire service and ambulance because their radios sometimes fail up here.
"I heard the initial call come through that there had been an RTC on
the Llangynidr to Beaufort road and just thought it was a little bump.
"It was about 10.45pm when I found out it was Louise. I was still up at
the scene at 3am.
"I'm devastated. She was only 16.
"I've spoken to a friend of hers and he's devastated too, but I
don't know who she was with at the time.
"I would think they were just out for a drive.
"I saw her family after they got told and that was quite bad."