London - A British father and his two young children were killed in a horrific car crash in France after it is thought he fell asleep at the wheel.
John Crompton, 31, was driving his family near Dijon early on Sunday morning when the family’s Nissan saloon careered off the side of the motorway and through a safety barrier before smashing into a bridge pillar.
Emergency services reportedly pulled his partner Makayla Lund, 25, from the wreckage with only minor injuries, while their three-year-old son Kyle was in a critical condition on Sunday night.
It is understood Mr Crompton’s other son Morgan, 12, and four-year-old daughter Evie-Lily were thrown from the car and died instantly. Their father died of a cardiac arrest as he lay trapped in wreckage.
With child seats and water bottles scattered across the road, the car was hardly recognisable on Sunday as it lay mangled on its side among the debris with the roof torn off.
Mr Crompton - a talented snooker player - is understood to have been based in Italy but is registered as living at a £50 000 terraced house in the seaside town of Hartlepool.
The devoted family man was on Sunday night described by friends a ‘very talented and well liked man’. His partner Makayla describes herself on Facebook as a ‘full-time mummy’.
The family were thought to be on holiday as they headed south on the A39 motorway towards Bourg-en-Bresse.
With the weather and road conditions good and no other vehicles involved, police said they would focus on the idea that the driver lost control.
Senior regional official Georges Bos said: ‘The crash may have been due to the driver falling asleep at the wheel or perhaps the driver was distracted by something and veered to the right.’
Gendarme Captain Gilles Quintaine told the Telegraph: ‘We don’t know how long the father had been driving for, whether he had been at the wheel all night or whether he had just got on the road.’
Witnesses said the driver lost control near Savigny-en-Revermont, around 50 miles south of Dijon, at around 7am.
The Nissan is said to have hit the central reservation before smashing through the safety barriers. It then crossed an embankment and careered into the supports of a bridge.
The roof was torn off as the vehicle rebounded on to a slip road, where the mangled wreck came to rest on its side.
It is thought the three children were thrown from the car as it turned over, killing the two eldest instantly.
The motorway was shut for several hours and two emergency helicopters were scrambled as rescue workers tried to help the parents, who were both trapped in the car. But the father had a cardiac arrest and was declared dead just after being freed. Kyle and his mother were airlifted to Edouard Herriot hospital in Lyon.
The boy was said to be in a critical condition on Sunday. The mother’s injuries were described as minor, said local newspaper Le Progres.
Colin Harrison, a friend of Mr Crompton’s at Hartlepool Billiards and Snooker club, said: ‘Heart-breaking news about one of the league’s top players. Thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends. Very talented and well-liked man. RIP mate’.
Family friend Paul Clements posted on Facebook: ‘Sad news to hear about John Crompton and his family sincere condolences (sic) to family great friend will be sadly missed R.I.P’
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘We are providing assistance following a road traffic accident in France, in which three British nationals have sadly died and two others have been hospitalised.
‘We are working closely with local authorities and supporting the families at this difficult time.’
There were 3,268 traffic-related deaths in France last year, which was a 2.4 per cent rise compared to 2014. This is almost double the number in the UK - 1,827.
According to the World Health Organisation, the figures for French road traffic accidents have been rising.While latest figures are a long way from the 18,000 who died in the ‘annee noir’ of 1970, data so far has suggested that 2016 will be another bleak year for French road accidents.
According to French road safety group Prevention Routiere, the main cause of fatal road accidents in France is speed and the ability of drivers to use phone apps to evade speed cameras.
Additional reporting Sara Smyth
Daily Mail