Four dead in car reservoir plunge

Local residents say that Peugeot 807 was clipped by car, sending it into reservoir, where only female driver escaped A man has been arrested after four people died when a car plunged into a reservoir in Wales. The female driver survived the accident, which happened at the Bwlch y Gle Dam, Clywedog, Llanidloes, in mid Wales, on Thursday police said. A spokesman for Dyfed Powys police said: “A local man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and is in custody at present.” The body of one man had been recovered but three bodies remain in the submerged Peugeot 807. “We can confirm that the woman holidaymaker driving the Peugeot managed to escape from the car and is now receiving medical attention – but tragically four other occupants of that car have been killed,” the police spokesman said. There have been unconfirmed reports that the five occupants of the car were all members of the same family and that those left inside it were children. Police declined to comment. It was understood the family had travelled to the area from Pontypridd for a holiday. “The body of a man has been recovered from the car, but the other bodies remain submerged and arrangements are being made to recover them,” said the spokesman. He said the road had been closed and would remain so for some time. “We are in the process of informing next of kin, and no further information in relation to the victims will be released until this process has been completed,” he said. The section of road where the accident happened goes down to the edge of the reservoir and is flanked by rolling hills. The immediate area is regarded as a local beauty spot and is sparsely populated, largely by farming families. Police were called to the scene at around 2.30pm on Thursday. A rescue crew on board a Sea King helicopter from RAF Valley, based in Anglesey, also arrived quickly at the scene. The RAF said: “We were called to reports that a car had gone into the water with five people inside. We sent a crew and the incident is ongoing.” Mid and West Wales fire and rescue service said two fire crews and two boats were involved in the operation. A woman working in a nearby car showroom said she had heard one car had clipped another, sending one of the vehicles crashing into the water. “We saw lots of police cars going past, ambulances and two recovery boats,” said the woman, who did not want to be named. “The story is one car clipped another and one went into the dam. “They have closed the road, it’s a B-road, it’s not somewhere where spectators can go. “There was an ambulance coming up with its sirens going – it was going out of the valley on its way to either Shrewsbury or Aberystwyth.” Wales Crime Transport David Batty guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 20, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.