Three teenagers have died after a black Audi A3 carrying four young people plunged into the River Wear at Wearmouth Bridge in Sunderland. Emergency crews rushed to the scene as police, divers and helicopters launched a desperate rescue operation in the freezing water.
A 17-year-old boy was the only survivor. He managed to escape from the sinking vehicle and reach the riverbank before being taken to hospital. He was later arrested as police began investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Two teenage boys and a teenage girl were killed in the tragedy. Flowers were later left near the scene as families, friends and the wider Sunderland community began mourning the three young lives lost in the crash.
Police are now working to establish what happened in the moments before the Audi left the road and entered the river. The survivor’s arrest does not by itself establish responsibility, and investigators have urged people not to speculate while the circumstances of the fatal crash remain under investigation.