British indie band and manager killed after their car plunges off bridge in Sweden

All four members of British indie band Viola Beach and their manager have been killed after their car plunged off a bridge in Sweden. Their Nissan Qashqai crashed through a motorway bridge barrier at Sodertalje and fell more than 80ft into a canal. Police divers recovered the bodies of singer Kris Leonard, guitarist River Reeves, bassist Tomas Lowe, drummer Jack Dakin and the band’s manager Craig Tarry, from the water, around 40km (25 miles) from Stockholm. The Warrington group had played a gig at a Swedish music festival on Friday night.

For some reason, the car drove through the barriers and crashed down into the canal. The witnesses just saw a car beside them and kind of disappear.

Inspector Martin Bergholm

They were due back in the UK to play in Guildford, Surrey, on Saturday night, but the venue said the gig had been cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances”. The band’s car crashed through a barrier after the bridge - at the Saltskogs junction, between the E4 and the E20 motorways - opened to let a boat pass. The bridge has a middle section that rises upwards, leaving a gap that the car drove into. Officers said a barrier, 50 metres before the gap, has flashing lights and signs warning there is a bridge opening. Police received a call at 2.30am on Saturday local time, and arrived at the scene five minutes later. Divers found the car and three bodies. They found the other two bodies an hour later.

They were very chirpy, and very happy and joked around … they were fantastic people. I really enjoyed my hours with them, and I was so, so sad when I heard the news this morning.

Swedish musician Fet Poet, whose band played at the festival on Friday

Viola Beach