A 16-year-old girl watched her two friends drown after the car they were travelling in crashed into a water-filled ditch in Iwade, Kent. The driver, Adam Dudzinski, 17, lost control of the blue Ford Fiesta on January 3 this year, and the vehicle plunged off the road.
Three hours trapped in the car
Adam and his girlfriend Chloe-Ann Naylor, also 16, both drowned. The third passenger, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was unable to escape for three hours. She was eventually found after her father tracked her location using the Live 360 mobile phone app.
The survivor told authorities that Adam was not speeding but had been driving fast and did not brake in time for a bend in the road. She said she thought she was going to drown but found the courage to undo her seatbelt after Chloe tapped on her leg.
Desperate attempts to save friends
The 16-year-old kept shouting Chloe's name to keep her alive but eventually stopped receiving an answer. After the crash, Adam said, "I am sorry, I am so sorry," to his girlfriend as she tried to keep his head above water before they both died.
A coroner heard that Adam, who worked at a local Sainsbury's, was driving the two girls to Chloe's house when the car left the road. He did not have a licence and was uninsured. Chloe had tried to phone her mother and emergency services while trapped, but the calls did not go through.
Family search and rescue
The teenagers' families reported them missing, but police had no idea where they were until the survivor's father found the car using her final location coordinates. He then alerted the police. Paramedics, fire crews, and the coastguard attended the scene. The 16-year-old was taken to hospital and later discharged.
Officers attempted to press charges against Adam's legal guardian for permitting unlicensed and uninsured driving, but the Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was not enough evidence. The coroner recorded the two deaths as accidental and described the incident as "a very tragic state of circumstances," adding that he was "so sorry" for the families' loss.
