Sky News halted for breaking news alert in huge death update
Sky News was interrupted for a breaking update on the tragic incident that took place near Middlesbrough in the early hours of Saturday (August 22) morning. Seven people, including two police officers, were killed in a car crash involving a police vehicle and a Volkswagen Passat on the A66.
Sky News came to a halt for the latest development, announcing that the five boys who were in the Volkswagen have been named. Leah Boleto said: "Interrupting that programme for some breaking news and it's in relation to that fatal crash on the A66. We now have the names of the five young men who were in that car who also lost their lives."
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BREAKING: Five young men who were killed in the A66 wrong-way crash have been named by police.
North of England correspondent @katiebarnfield reports live from the scene.https://t.co/XoiXfQfhih
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The presenter confirmed that Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Jakub Matusiak, 23, and Makai Saddington, 18, were killed in the crash.
She continued: "Two police officers also lost their lives, PC Matthew Blades, he was 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38.
"Sky News understands that the event that led up to that crash was that a police car abandoned their pursuit when the vehicle with these five young men drove on the wrong side of the road of the A66 and that they crashed into a separate police car, a marked, armed-response vehicle that was driving on the correct side of the A66 and then collided with the Volkswagen.
"It happened on Saturday morning at 3:39am. We've been reflecting on the community, reeling in the police community, but in the wider community too."
Boleto was joined on the programme by correspondent Katie Barnfield, who reported live from Middlesborough.
She said: "That's the update that we have been waiting for from Cleveland Police after we heard from them that they had confirmed the identities of all the five people who were in that Volkswagen Passat, who lost their lives sadly along with PC Blades and PC Clough. We now know that all of the people in the car were male. They were all either in their teens or early 20s."
The collision occurred minutes after the Passat was captured on a doorbell camera speeding through the streets of Middlesbrough.
Police had been pursuing the vehicle after it was described as suspicious, with two police cars following it through the streets.
Three minutes later, the car ploughed into the other marked armed-response vehicle, killing all seven people in the two cars.