Seven people, including two police officers, were killed in a car accident in northeast England on Saturday, after a car traveling in the wrong direction on a main road collided with a marked armed police car, the local police force said.
Cleveland Police said the accident occurred in the early hours of Saturday near the Southbank area, east of Middlesbrough, and that all occupants of both cars died at the scene.
“This is a very sad day for Cleveland,” Cleveland Police Chief Victoria Fuller said.
The police force said that it had officially identified the passengers in the other car, a Volkswagen Passat, and was making contact with their families.
Fuller named the two dead officers as Constables Matthew Blades, 37, and Tom Clough, 38, describing them as “brave officers… who did not return to their families at the end of their shift.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham also issued a brief statement expressing his sadness over the incident, which as usual in such cases will be reviewed by Britain’s independent Office of Police Conduct.
