British indie band dies in Sweden car crash

The four members of the British indie band Viola Beach and their manager are believed have been killed in a car crash early on Saturday morning near the Swedish capital, Stockholm, media reports and police said on Sunday.

The bodies of five victims, aged between 20 and 35, were recovered from the Sodertalje canal on Saturday after their vehicle fell through a gap in a highway bridge that had opened to let a boat pass underneath, police said.

Witnesses said the warning system on the bridge was working at the time.

The members of the band, which hailed from Warrington in northwest England, were Kris Leonard, River Reeves, Tomas Lowe and Jack Dakin. All were said to have died in the crash along with their manager, Craig Tarry.

'Full of hope'

Fellow band The Enemy tweeted its condolences at the news of the accident.

The band had given a performance on Friday at a music festival in the city of Norrkoping, and was returning to Britain for a gig in Guildford in southern England on Saturday evening.

"It was the first time they had played outside of Britain. They were full of hope," festival organizer Folkert Koopmans told the Swedish daily "Aftonbladet."

The group had been scheduled to play at a festival in Austin in the US state of Texas in March, according to its Facebook page.

tj/rc (AFP, dpa)