Entire British band killed in car accident

Heartbreaking photos and videos have captured the final days of the Viola Beach band members and manager, who were killed when their car crashed through a barrier and plunged into a canal near Stockholm.

Police say the accident on Saturday afternoon occurred when a hire car containing all four members of the UK indie band and their manager crashed through a barrier that was closed to stop vehicles as a drawbridge was opening up ahead.

Viola Beach – whose members were Kris Leonard, River Reeves, Tomas Lowe and Jack Dakin – and their manager Craig Tarry, died in the incident in Sodertalje, 18 miles from the capital Stockholm, on Saturday.

Five British men, reportedly including members of indie band Viola Beach, have been killed, their car crashing through a barrier and plunging into a canal near Stockholm. Photo: Facebook

"We can confirm that our son Craig, along with four members of the band Viola Beach, were involved in a fatal accident in the early hours of Saturday morning," said a statement issued by the family of Mr Tarry.

John Olsson took what is believed to be the final photo of Viola Beach in a dressing room in Norrkoping on Friday night. Photo: John Olsson/jholsson

Swedish police said they were called to the incident at about 2.30am and divers had recovered the bodies of the victims.

The bridge, at the Saltskogs junction between the E4 and the E20 motorways, has a middle section that rises directly upwards without tilting, leaving a gap that the Nissan Qashqai drove into.

"First indications are that the barriers and signal lights were functioning correctly," police spokesman Towe Hagg said.

Lorry driver Jonny Alexandersson, who witnessed the incident, explained that while other vehicles were waiting for the bridge to close fully "one car arrived at a crazy speed ... at least 70 to 80 kilometres per hour'.

"That's very quick when everybody else was stopped," he said,

The band posted a chilling photo of the vehicle they were all killed in just hours before the accident. Photo: Facebook

The band had played at a Swedish music festival on Friday and was scheduled to open for headline artists Blossoms at a concert in the British city of Guilford on Saturday.

However, the music venue said in a statement it had to cancel the gig after learning Viola Beach had been involved in an accident.

"We are saddened and devastated as details have come to light of this tragic accident. Our thoughts are with family and friends," the venue Boileroom said.

Only the day before, the band had taken to Facebook to share their excitement about their first international gig, with a joyful video of them spinning around in a shopping trolley.

The day before that, they shared a skit, in which a band member was pulled over by another member pretending to be a police officer, who asked if they had been 'boozing today'.

Just hours before the fatal crash, they also shared a photo of the vehicle they were traveling through Sweden in.

John Olsson, a member of Swedish punk band Psykofant, said he thought the group had the potential to take the world by storm.

“I remember standing in the audience thinking ‘these guys really have the potential to become huge’,” the 22-year-old told MailOnline.

“And I thought that it is going to be a cool thing to be able to say, in the future, that I was hanging with Viola Beach in a dressing room in Norrkoping before their first gig outside Great Britain.

A badly damaged car is towed up from the canal under the E4 highway bridge in Sodertalje, Sweden, February 13, 2016. Police on Sunday confirmed five men were killed when their car ran through the gate and flew off the 29 metre high open highway bridge early Saturday morning. Photo: Reuters

“They were incredibly good live and amazingly skilled musicians, but probably even nicer people. We shared a dressing room and my band had just finished out gig, and then they stumbled in with their amazingly charming accents. They reminded me of The Beatles in Hard Day’s Night – kind of charmingly clumsy.

“We were heading back home to Stockholm after their gig so I walked past the drummer and said thank you for a great show, and joked that if I was ever in the Manchester area I’d give him a shout.”

Service personnel repair a gate, where a car drove through before crashing into the canal under the E4 highway bridge in Sodertalje, Sweden. Photo: Reuters

Police did not know the reason for the accident and were still investigating, Bergholm said, adding that it was getting dark and the road was slippery.

"There were no brake marks on the road and it's very difficult to say how fast the car was going at the time."

“For some reason, this car went through the barriers and actually went under the bridge and into the Sodertalje canal,” a police spokesman said.

“The investigation so far shows no problem with the barrier. It was down and the lights were on. Other cars had stopped by the barrier.”

The accident occurred on the E4 highway in Stockholm's Sodertalje district.

Tributes have poured in for the band. Source: Yahoo US