Miracle escape: Car 'travelling three times speed limit' smashes into Welsh campsite - but baby 'saved by cot'
13 August 2023, 19:56
Nine people have been injured after a car travelling 'three times the speed limit' veered off the road and smashed into a campsite in Wales, with a baby in the tent saved by its cot.
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Two of the victims are in a serious condition in hospital after the horror smash, which took place at the Newgale campsite near Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire.
Six people were hospitalised in total. It is unclear if one of them was the baby, which is understood to have been miraculously saved by its cot.
One person was airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales, the Welsh Ambulance Service said.
A blue Ford Fiesta collided with a number of people and a tent at the campsite shortly after 10.30pm on Saturday evening, police said.
The car is believed to have been travelling from the village of Roch towards St Davids when it crashed off the A487.
Mike Harris, owner of the campsite, said the car was travelling "three times the speed limit".
"I didn't realise a car could go so fast down the road," he told Sky.
"It catapulted from the road because of the speed he was going, over the ditch separating the campsite and main road.
"It landed about 100m from where the driver started braking.
"It turned three full turns and landed on its wheels. It rolled through a tent belonging to a family. The baby was in a cot."
The car is believed to have been travelling from the village of Roch towards St Davids when it crashed off the A487.
Mike Harris, owner of the campsite, told Sky: "I didn't realise a car could go so fast down the road.
"It catapulted from the road because of the speed he was going, over the ditch separating the campsite and main road.
"It landed about 100m from where the driver started braking.
"It turned three full turns and landed on its wheels. It rolled through a tent belonging to a family. The baby was in a cot."
Clare Harris, who runs the campsite with her husband Mike, said: "The car was speeding down the hill, realised it needed to slow down and tried to brake.
"It flipped and rolled several times, and crashed into the tent. There was a young child, a baby, in the tent at the time, thankfully they are okay.
"It's a tragic accident that the police are dealing with, that's all we can say at the moment."
Mike said: "It happened at 10:38pm, I had left the campsite four minutes earlier and didn't hear or see anything.
"My staff heard the screaming and informed me immediately while they called the emergency services," he told Wales Online.
"I think they first thought there would have been fatalities and that's why there were so many emergency vehicles here. I think one baby was saved purely by the fact it was in a cot."
He added: ""There are no fatalities and from what I understand none of the injuries are life-threatening but I would say some are certainly life-changing."
Dyfed Powys Police said passengers in the car were among those injured.
A spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police said: "We are appealing for witnesses following a serious collision, which saw a car crash off the A487 and into a campsite in Pembrokeshire last night (Sat).
"At shortly after 10.30pm calls were made to emergency services reporting the collision at Newgale Campsite.
"The blue Ford Fiesta, which contained a number of occupants, is believed to have been travelling from Roch towards St Davids veered off the road.
"It crashed into the campsite, colliding with a number of people and a tent, injuring nine, including passengers in the car.
"The injuries sustained by two of them are described as serious. They remain in hospital.
"The road was closed to allow investigations and reopened at around 7.45am today.
"Officers are appealing for any information regarding the vehicle, a blue Fiesta, and its occupants.
"We are especially interested in any dash-cam or doorbell footage which may have captured the vehicle being driven from Roch to the scene of the collision at Newgale."
A spokesperson for the Welsh Ambulance Service confirmed that six people were hospitalised.
They said: "We were called yesterday at around 10.40pm to reports of an incident at Newgale Campsite, Pembrokeshire."We sent six emergency ambulances, one duty operations manager, one Cymru high acuity response unit and our crews were supported on scene by the emergency medical and retrieval transfer service and search and rescue helicopter
"One patient was flown to University Hospital of Wales, four patients were taken by road to Glangwilli Hospital, and one patient was taken by road to Morriston Hospital."
