Crash victims: Emma Barton, pictured in these two images, was seriously injured in the crash. Her partner Chris Burbull, left, was maintaining a vigil at her bedside
Devoted: Tony and Pamela Adams were returning home to Newport after visiting their daughter in Taunton
She lay in a coma last night with her childhood sweetheart at her side.
If Emma Barton pulls through, she faces the heartbreak of learning she has lost her father and sister in the M5 disaster.
The teenager – whose mother died just a few years ago – had been travelling back with boyfriend Chris Burbull and her family from a funeral when they were caught up in the carnage of Britain’s worst motorway crash for 20 years.
Seven lost their lives and 51 were injured in the pile-up which involved more than 30 cars and six articulated lorries on Friday night.
Police believe the crash was caused by smoke from a rugby club fireworks display, but a row broke out yesterday when the organiser attempted to blame the foggy weather and even the motorists themselves. Police now want to interview several people connected to the rugby club to establish what safety precautions were taken.
As the names of some of the victims were released, there were tales of heroism and astonishing escapes.
One family told how they and their three show dogs managed to get out of their van moments before it erupted in flames.
Friends said Miss Barton was ‘only just alive’ and Mr Burbull was refusing to leave her side in hospital. The teenager is believed to work as a carer in a hospice but friends said she also volunteered at a charity shop.
Laura Kyte, 20, said: ‘Chris is really worried about Emma. They met as teenagers and I think they’ve been together for about five years.
‘They are a lovely couple. They’d do anything for anyone and are great to have as friends. We are all in total shock. It’s awful.’
Mr Burbull is believed to have been at the wheel of the car when it crashed.
Ablaze: Survivor Rob Emony took these images of Friday's carnage moments after it took place
Last night his parents left their home in Slough, Berkshire, to be with their son at the Musgrove Park hospital in Taunton where Miss Barton is in intensive care.
At the Barton family home in Windsor, neighbours told how Miss Barton and her elder sister Maggie had been heartbroken when they lost their mother several years ago.
‘They were a very close family,’ said one. ‘I think they just had each other.’
Miss Barton’s father, Michael, was wheelchair-bound. Neighbours said he had been ‘poorly’ for some time and would not have been able to escape the wreckage of the crash.
Maggie was described as ‘loving, caring and full of life’.
One neighbour described Maggie as ‘the loveliest person you could ever meet’, while another said she was ‘the best babysitter I’ve ever had’.
A young woman at the family home sobbed uncontrollably. ‘We are just devastated,’ she said. ‘I grew up with them and have known them all my life.’
Carnage: The wreckage of some of the vehicles involved in Friday evening's accident on the M5 in Somerset. It was the worst crash on Britain's roads in 20 years
Grim: Emergency workers remove a body from the scene of the multiple vehicle crash on the M5 motorway, left, police comb the wreckage, right
The church-going couple, from Newport, Gwent, had been to visit their daughter Tonia White, who stood as a Conservative councillor in Taunton this year, her husband Phil, a singer-songwriter, and their six children.
Mr Adams, 73, had been due to preach at yesterday’s morning service at St Mark’s Church in the city – but instead the Rev Andrew Willie had to break the news that the popular and devoted couple had been killed in the crash.Their son-in-law Phil White was too upset to comment yesterday, but posted on Facebook: ‘Heaven today has two more beautiful roses in his heavenly garden. Lord God above please look after Mum and Dad.’
The couple’s neighbour and close friend Doreen Martin, 88, said the couple spent their retirement visiting family and gardening.
‘It is so tragic. They were such lovely and caring people, devoted to each other and their family,’ she said.
She wrote: ‘Rest in peace, Daddy, I love you so much. You will never be forgotten, not a day will go by where I won’t hope you’ll walk through that door. Instead of mourning your death, I’ll celebrate your life. Wish you would hold me one last time.’
Mr Brice’s mother Jean, 78, also of Bristol, said the vehicle he was travelling in was engulfed by flames. She said: ‘It is the way that he died that is so terrible. As soon as it happened, they were gone, it was this inferno, my son didn’t stand a chance.’
Three lorry drivers travelling up from Cornwall are also understood to have been killed or seriously injured.
They worked for Samworth Brothers, which owns the Ginsters Cornish pasty brand, and were travelling from the depot in Callington in two separate lorries when the crash happened.
Both HGVs were gutted by fierce blazes following explosions on the carriageway.
Former employee Chris Tomlinson tweeted: ‘God bless my three former colleagues who were injured and killed on Friday.’
It was just like a war zone. There were explosions everywhere... people were screaming but we couldn't see them in the smoke
Escape: Matt Craker, pictured with his wife Michelle, son Freddie and their three dogs, has spoken of his family's scramble to safety following the crash
Matt Craker, 39, and his dog trainer wife Michelle plucked their son Freddie, seven, and their three Briard show dogs from their Renault Trafic as scenes resembling ‘Armageddon’ unfolded around them.
The family’s newly purchased van can clearly be seen on aerial images with its doors ajar and rammed into the barrier on the hard shoulder near an overturned lorry.
Mr Craker said: ‘It truly was complete and utter carnage. There were flames everywhere. We could hear people screaming, but we couldn’t see them.
‘The heat of the fire was immense. It was utterly horrific.’
Mr Craker, a security consultant, was in the passenger seat as Mrs Craker, 42, rejoined the M5 following a meal at a nearby services.
But within 45 seconds of joining the motorway, ‘everything turned pitch black’.
‘It was literally like someone turned out the lights,’ said Mr Craker, from Colyton, Devon. ‘I have never seen anything like it. It was like a wall of pitch black fog.
‘In my mind, it was either a total freak of nature weather condition, or it had to have been that there was some sort of smoke mixed with it. I’ve driven along that stretch of road nearly every week for the past decade. It was like any other night at first – perfectly lit and totally clear.
‘There was one car in front of us. Then all of sudden – bam! – it was black. The car disappeared. I said to Michelle, “It’s like that car has vanished, how weird”.
‘We might as well have been blindfolded. Next thing we knew we had smashed into the back of it.’
The couple, who were heading to Gloucester for the weekend to celebrate Mrs Craker’s parents’ 43rd wedding anniversary, were helpless as they were struck at least four times by different vehicles.
Mr Craker said: ‘We were getting bashed from every side, getting pushed, luckily, towards the outside of the motorway rather than into the flames.
‘One side of the van hit the barrier and there were flames outside the other. I had to take Freddie out through a window, while Michelle tried to rescue the dogs.
‘She managed to get them out, but had to smash through a side window. As we got out of the van, the lorry in front of us was being engulfed in flames.
‘Another lorry in the middle of the road was on fire. There were explosions everywhere, like a war zone. The heat was intense.
‘There were screams coming from everywhere, but we couldn’t see any people because of the flames and smoke. Even the road surface was on fire – someone’s fuel must have been leaking.
‘Our best escape was to climb roughly 40 feet down the side of the embankment. As I looked back, I saw our van go up in flames.’
Mangled: The vehicles destroyed by the fire which engulfed the motorway on Friday night after the multiple crash
All that's left: Three emergency workers at the scene of some of the vehicles burned into twisted metal
Horror: A burnt out lorry and several cars can be seen littering the carriageway on the M5
He added: ‘We finally reached safety after crossing a water-filled ditch and climbing a fence into a farmer’s field. We put the other man into the recovery position and shouted for help.
‘We looked back up at the crash scene and thought, “Thank God we’re out of that”. The only other survivors we saw were a father and his two sons who also made their way down the embankment.
‘A fireman heard us and called for help, but it was an hour before someone could get past the flames to get to us. We were huddled together down in the field.’
He said they had to use their belts to stop their dogs – Ruby, four, and Ikkon and Fleur, both two – from running off.
‘When they did rescue us, they took us under the bridge, and that’s when Michelle’s legs gave out due to the shock and stress.’
Pile-up: Crashed lorries and cars jammed together on the M5 after the accident in which many people died
Wreckage: Firemen inspect the damage after the horror accident in which more than 50 people were injured
Freddie, who had been travelling in the front middle seat of the van, had two black eyes from when the airbags deployed.
Mr Craker added: ‘For our part, I feel incredibly lucky and grateful to have survived. More than words can express.
‘We just bought that van on Tuesday for Michelle to use for work. Otherwise, we would have been travelling a much smaller Vauxhall Insignia.
‘I shudder to think what would have happened to us. I am not looking to blame anyone. All of the drivers were the same position – we just couldn’t see. I just feel so thankful that me and my family survived.’
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