Young family perishes

A tragic traffic accident in Żejtun yesterday afternoon claimed the lives of a young couple and their three-year-old daughter when the car they were in was crushed between a wall and a water bowser. The couple had also a baby son.

Jonathan Seychell and his girlfriend Roxanne D'Anastasi, both aged 20, of Żejtun and their daughter Kelcy died on the spot in Anton Buttigieg Street just before 5 p.m.

The couple were planning to get married in about two year's time. Their son was with his father's relatives when the accident occurred.

Mr Seychell was driving a black Toyota Starlet towards Marsascala when he overtook two cars and found himself facing a water bowser coming from the opposite direction, police sources said.

It was too late for Mr Seychell or the driver of the bowser, Victor Busuttil, 26, to do anything and the car got caught under the front of the heavy vehicle, sources said. The bowser swerved into the other lane, hitting the two cars Mr Seychell had tried to overtake and dragging down a traffic sign.

Mr Seychell and his family were trapped inside the car, the police sources said. The Toyota was sandwiched between the wall and the right-hand side of the bowser.

Even though the police, a medic team and Civil Protection Department personnel were on site almost immediately after the accident, it took almost three hours to get through the mangled wreck.

The car was so badly damaged that initially it was hard to establish how many people were inside. In fact, once the victims' identities were established, the police contacted their relatives to ask whether the couple's son was with them.

The two other cars damaged in the accident were a Red Golf and a grey Toyota Corsa. A nearby garage, where a car was parked, was also damaged on impact by the bowser.

An eyewitness who was driving behind the bowser explained that he too was tempted to overtake it because the heavy vehicle was going at a very slow speed.

"I was late and I was thinking of overtaking the bowser because it was going very slowly.

"Thank God I didn't. I don't know what I would have done had I seen it coming in my direction," he said. He described the sound of the impact as that of a balloon bursting. "There was this big sound and then the bowser hit the wall," he said.

Mr Busuttil was taken to hospital suffering from shock and slight injuries.

The driver of the Golf, a 29-year-old woman from Għargħur, and a 28-year-old man from Marsaxlokk driving the Toyota Corsa were not harmed.

As a result of the impact, the Golf was partly thrown onto the pavement while the Corsa's bonnet was badly damaged.

Long furrows were chiselled in the tarmac and the road was littered with glass and shattered plastic. A small toy car lay in the middle of the road, though it was not clear who it belonged to.

The accident drew a large crowd of Żejtun residents who watched from a distance and waited for any news. They said too many accidents had happened on that road and that, especially at night, cars drove through at very high speeds.

The police and CDP personnel worked late into the evening until the cars and the bowser were removed. Duty Magistrate Anthony Vella, accompanied by a number of court experts, was on site.