A mother and her three children who were killed in a horror crash with a lorry near Oxford have been pictured for the first time.
Zoe Powell, 29, was killed alongside her daughters Amelia and Phoebe, four and eight, and son Simeon, six, when their silver Subaru collided with a HGV on the A40 on Monday.
Her husband Joshua, 30, and their 18-month-old daughter were rescued from the wreckage and are today fighting for their lives at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
The driver of the HGV, a 56-year-old man, suffered minor injuries.
Emergency services rushed to the scene at 9.50pm on Monday to reports of the crash, which took place near a railway overbridge.
Pictured: Zoe Powell, who died in the crash, with Phoebe, eight, Simeon, six, Amelia, four, and her husband Joshua
Emergency services rushed to the scene at 9.50pm to reports of the crash, which took place near to a railway overbridge to the west of Oxford. Pictured: The scene today
Pictured are the floral tributes outside the Community Church in High Street Chinnor today
David Patchett, 36, who lives on a narrow boat close to where the collision occurred, was the first to arrive at the scene.
He described hearing a ‘horrendous noise’ which shook through his home, adding others in the area ‘thought it was a sonic boom.’
‘The car was in the middle of the road, it wasn’t just front-end damage it looked like it had been crumpled like a can,’ he said.
‘The emergency services turned up very quickly. It was a horrifying thing to see and my first thoughts were nobody had survived, that’s how bad it was.
Three children and their mother have been killed after a car collided with a lorry in a horror smash on the A40 near Oxford. Pictured: The scene today
‘While I was on the phone to police, the man regained consciousness and that’s when I started screaming down the phone ‘get someone here now.”
Friends today said the Powell family has suffered ‘tragedy after tragedy’ after they were forced to move away from their home in Chinnor following a devastating house fire a few months ago.
A neighbour said: ‘They were a lovely family. They were renting somewhere else in Chinnor in the meantime because there was a house fire, as you can see the whole house is boarded up. It is a devastating shame.’
Blogger Mrs Powell ran a website dedicated to her experience of motherhood and sold a diary, The Mama Book, designed to support other parents.
The mother-of-four said on her The Mama Book website: ‘The mama book is a journal and community that was born out of my own need for a space – a physical place to write and focus and reflect on motherhood.
‘When I created this journal for myself I was feeling overwhelmed by the everyday demands of having three young children.
‘One day in the middle of the craziness of having three three-and-unders underfoot I filled a notebook with all the thoughts about mothering that were filling up my head.
‘Since then I have used it daily, tweaked it and refined it. It is the space I wish I had been able to give myself when my first baby was born, and a space that I am continuing to use through each season of mothering.’
Mrs Powell had an English Literature degree and said she had a ‘deep love for books, stationary and florals’.
The village where the Powells lived was in deep shock today as news of the tragedy emerged.
A cross was erected outside Chinnor Community Church in memory of the family who visited weekly. It said: ‘The cross has been put up in our garden as a focal point for anyone who would like to remember Zoe, Phoebe, Simeon and Amelia Powell, who lost their lives in a road traffic accident on Monday night.
‘As Christians we believe that death is not the end of the road, but just a bend in the road. The road winds only through those paths through which Christ himself has gone.’
Officers remain at the scene and the A40 will remain closed in both directions for a ‘considerable’ period of time while the investigation continues
Colourful bouquets were scattered underneath the cross for the Powell family, with loving tributes attached.
Officers today remained at the scene of the crash and the A40 was closed in both directions for a ‘considerable’ period of time while the investigation continued.
Senior investigating officer Sergeant Dominic Mahon, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit based at Bicester, said the crash was an ‘absolute tragedy’.
He said: ‘We are in the very early stages of our investigation into this incredibly tragic incident that has resulted in the deaths of four people from the same family.
‘I would appeal to anybody who was driving in the area at the time of the collision and witnessed what happened to please contact 101, or make a report online, quoting reference number 43200321914.
‘I would also urge anybody who has dash-cam footage of the incident or either of the vehicles just prior to the incident to please not share this publicly, but contact police with this detail.
‘The next of kin of the family have been made aware and are being supported by specially trained family liaison officers.
‘Our officers and colleagues from the other emergency services were dealing with an extremely upsetting scene, and I would like to thank them for the work that they carried out overnight.
‘Our officers remain at the scene and the A40 will remain closed in both directions for a considerable period of time while this investigation continues.’