A British family of four has been killed in a head-on collision in Portugal, just minutes after leaving Faro Airport in a rental car. Domingos Serrano, 55, his wife Maria, 51, and their 20-year-old twin sons Domingos and Afonso died at the scene when their Nissan Juke collided with another vehicle and burst into flames.
The crash occurred on a bend on the IP2 main road near Castro Verde, as the family travelled from Faro to Mourao, around three hours north of the airport. The 19-year-old Polish partner of one of the twins, identified only as Veronica, also died in the collision. The driver of the other car, 26-year-old Portuguese mine worker Ruben Goncalves, survived.
Portuguese police confirmed the four family members were British passport holders, with the twins believed to have been born in Britain. Domingos Serrano, believed to live in Thetford, Norfolk, had celebrated his 55th birthday on Thursday, two days before the flight. Town hall chiefs in Mourao have declared two days of mourning.
A police source said initial identification was hampered by the state of the wrecked rental car. A daughter of the couple, who lives in the UK, contacted police after hearing about the crash and being unable to reach her family. Her information helped officers match the rental car records, confirming the identities of the five occupants.
The hire car caught fire after the crash, and local reports said all five occupants burned to death, though forensic experts will determine if they were already dead when the flames took hold. The road, where the speed limit is 80km/h, was not reopened until after 7am yesterday.
