An elderly British woman has died in a horror car crash in the Algarve which claimed three lives and left five injured, including three children.
The 83-year-old’s husband, aged 84, was also hurt in the collision between the four vehicles, one a police car, although the gentleman’s injuries were not said to be serious.
The accident took place just before 4pm on Tuesday on the A22 motorway near the village of Boliqueime. Part of the road around the accident, in the direction of Faro, was closed for three hours after the incident.
It is not clear whether the British victim and her husband lived in the area or were on holiday.
The two other individuals killed in the accident were a 56-year-old Portuguese woman, and a seven-year-old boy who was travelling in the same car.
A two-year-old boy was also seriously injured. Another two children, one a nine-month-old baby, suffered minor injuries.
Initial reports said a van carrying tourists to Faro Airport was among the vehicles damaged, although officials have yet to confirm this.
A witness told Correio da Manha that the fourth vehicle involved in the accident crashed into the other three at high speed whilst they were stationary on the dual carriageway.
Pictures from the scene showed a white car with its rear end smashed in and its tyres blown out with a child's pushchair on the road beside it. Another car was so badly damaged that the area where the front two seats should had been transformed into a twisted mangle of metal.
Firefighters put a large sheet over another badly-damaged vehicle so they could release one of the victims who had been trapped inside discreetly.
It was not immediately clear this morning how the accident had happened, and none of the individuals have been named.
A total of 35 members from the Albufeira, Loulé and São Bartolomeu de Messines fire stations, Portuguese Red Cross, INEM, GNR and the motorway concession company were at the scene, assisted by 17 vehicles.
Traffic was cut off on the stretch of road between Boliqueime and Loulé, causing long queues.
