M5 carnage could have been caused by fireworks display

The 34-vehicle pile-up, which triggered a giant fireball on the M5 in Somerset, claimed seven lives and left 51 injured on Friday evening.

Avon and Somerset Police said witnesses had reported “significant smoke” across the carriageway that was “impossible to drive through”.

The inquiries into what caused the accident will be a crime investigation as well as a road policing one, with major crime teams looking into what happened, it was announced yesterday.

Assistant Chief Constable Anthony Bangham said: “What I am now able to say this afternoon is that our main line of inquiry has now moved towards the event that was on the side of the carriageway and we do believe that while there was fog and it was difficult conditions in the area, that actually from witness evidence there was very significant smoke across the carriageway that in effect caused a bank similar to a fog bank, which was very distracting and very difficult to drive through.

“We will be doing everything we can to find out as quickly as we’re able to what’s behind that.”

Witnesses at the fireworks display – held at Taunton Rugby Club – were being interviewed, he said, adding that accountability was “clearly something we will look at”. He went on: “We believe from the witnesses and from what we’re being told that it was smoke and not fog.

“The vehicles and people who were entering into the smoke bank have just described it as being impossible to drive through and that of course caused them to brake. So we know there was brakes and then there was the impacts.”

The rugby club has said previously that its display was over by 8.15pm.

The motorway remained closed in both directions between junctions 24 and 25 yesterday following the incident, which took place at about 8.25pm in wet and foggy conditions on the northbound carriageway.

But police said they expected to be able to reopen it at some point overnight in readiness for traffic travelling north and southbound this morning.

The investigation will look at how the fireworks event was organised, what permission was given for it and what was and was not meant to be happening, Mr Bangham said.

Asked whether a higher death toll was possible if it turned out that some victims had been so badly incinerated that almost no trace of their bodies remained, he admitted police could not be “100 per cent certain”.

Mr Banham added: “We are now as clear as we can be that the number of people who lost their lives is seven.

“We are still working through the debris and we would not anticipate from everything we can see that that figure would go up. I don’t think you can ever be certain.”

He said police would make a final sweep to be sure there were no more remains before handing the carriageway over to the Highways Agency.