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A 16-year-old girl, who hasn’t been named, was the only survivor of the crash, which occurred in Kent, England
NEED TO KNOW
- A teen and his girlfriend died in January of this year after his car veered off a road in Kent, England, and plunged into icy water
- Adam Dudzinski, 17, and Chloe-Ann Naylor, 16, drowned over the course of around three hours, it was revealed in court
- A 16-year-old girl, who hasn’t been named, was the only survivor of the crash
A teenage boy and his girlfriend died in a crash in England after his car veered off the road and plunged into icy water, it’s been revealed in court.
Adam Dudzinski, 17, and Chloe-Ann Naylor, 16, drowned over the course of around three hours after his Ford Fiesta left the road and ended up upside-down in a water-filled ditch, U.K. newspaper The Times reported.
The incident occurred on Jan. 3 of this year near the village of Iwade, in Kent in southeastern England, per the outlet. Further details were shared about the tragic crash in an inquest at the Kent and Medway Coroner’s Court this week.
A 16-year-old girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was the only survivor of the crash, The Times, Metro and Kent Online reported. The teen’s father used the Live360 cellphone app to locate his missing daughter, per the outlets.
The teens’ families had reported them missing, but they weren’t sure of their location, Kent Online noted.
The man’s daughter’s phone had stopped transmitting her location, but he was still able to find her in the overturned vehicle just before midnight, due to the app allowing users to share their real-time location, per The Times.
After the survivor’s father discovered the car, paramedics, firefighters, police and the Coastguard responded. Dudzinski and Naylor were pronounced dead at the scene, per the publication.
Before the couple’s deaths, Dudzinski repeatedly said, “I am sorry, I am so sorry,” the outlet reported, citing the teenage survivor, who had been trapped in the back seat while the victims were in the front.
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Naylor also tapped the survivor’s leg, giving “her the courage” to release her seatbelt, the outlet noted. The young girl kept trying to speak to her friends, but Naylor eventually stopped responding, it was revealed in court.
At the time of the crash, Dudzinski had been driving the two girls back to Naylor’s home in the town of Sittingbourne, the newspaper reported.
The girl who survived the crash was taken to the hospital and was later discharged, per Kent Online. She’d previously told police in a statement that Dudzinski had been driving fast, but wasn’t speeding at the time of the crash. She said he tried to slow down, but didn’t brake in time to make the bend.
Investigators revealed Dudzinski had likely been going too fast for the conditions on the evening of the crash, but found no evidence suggesting he’d been speeding at the time, according to Kent Online.
The court was told that he did not have a driving license and was uninsured at the time of the incident, The Times noted.
Officers attempted to press charges against Dudzinski’s legal guardian for allowing unlicensed and uninsured driving. However, the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) chose not to take the charges further because there was not enough evidence to suggest that this was the case, Kent Online reported.
GoFundMe pages created to raise money for the families of Naylor and Dudzinski had collectively raised almost $21,000 as of Thursday, July 23.
The Kent and Medway Coroner’s Court didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.
Read the original article on People
