Four members of an up and coming indie band Viola Beach are believed to have died along with their manager in a car crash in Sweden.
It’s reported that they were travelling through Stockholm, before their car went through a barrier of a bridge and plunged 82ft into the canal below.
The victims include guitarist and vocalist Kris Leonard, guitarist River Reeves, Bassist Tomas Lowe, drummer Jack Dakin, and manager Craig Tarry.
The band had been in Sweden to perform at the Where’s the Music? festival in Norrköping.
Norrköping! We play Dynamo (Hallarna) tonight at 9.30pm!
Posted by Viola Beach on Friday, 12 February 2016
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: ‘We can confirm that five British nationals died in a car accident in Sweden on February 13′.
Tributes have been paid to the band, originally from Warrington, following the news of the crash.
They were due to perform in Guildford last night with another band, Blossoms, but the gig was cancelled.
The Nissan Qashqai they were travelling in crashed through the barrier and into the canal after the bridge had opened to let a boat pass underneath, Swedish police said.
Witness Jonny Alexandersson told Aftonbladet:
Suddenly there’s a car that pushes past and drives live a maniac. It drives down the left side in towards the barrier. It was driving at least 70-80km/h (45-50mph).That’s very fast when the rest of us are standing still. He caught the rear-view mirror on a taxi.’ We are in contact with local authorities and supporting the families at this very difficult time.
The bridge, at the Saltskogs junction between the E4 and the E20 motorways, has a middle section that rises directly upwards without tilting, leaving a gap that the car drove into.
The up-and-coming band were on tour and due to play a string of dates at venues across the UK.
Our thoughts are with their friends and family at this time.
