A HORRIFIC road crash which killed three teenagers and a 40-year-old man earlier this month has claimed its fifth victim, it emerged last night.Kim Abbott, from Yoxford, lost her fight for life yesterday in the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, where she had remained in a critical condition since the accident on Saturday, July 1.

By Danielle Nuttall

A HORRIFIC road crash which killed three teenagers and a 40-year-old man earlier this month has claimed its fifth victim, it emerged last night.

Kim Abbott, from Yoxford, lost her fight for life yesterday in the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, where she had remained in a critical condition since the accident on Saturday, July 1.

The 41-year-old had been travelling in a Renault Laguna along a stretch of the A12 near Blythburgh when the vehicle was involved in a collision with a Vauxhall Astra carrying five teenagers.

Sisters Claire and Jennifer Stoddart, aged 18 and 15, and their friend Carla Took, also 18, from Lowestoft, who were all in the Vauxhall Astra, were killed in the collision.

Simon Bonner, 40, from Yoxford, who was a passenger in the Laguna, also died in the crash.

An 18-year-old girl who was passenger in the Astra remains in hospital. She sustained multiple injuries and is recovering at the James Paget Hospital.

Another boy, who was also in the Astra, sustained serious hand injuries and was treated at Ipswich Hospital. He has now been discharged.

Last night the Rev Susan Warne, assistant priest in Yoxford, said the village had been left devastated by the crash and now Ms Abbott's death.

She added: “It's a terrible tragic accident. They have just come to terms with Simon's funeral, it's devastating for everybody.

“It has hit them hard already. They have found it very difficult.

“The whole village will rally round and continue to support them. One is limited as to what one can do in the face of a tragedy like that.

“But the village is very supportive of Kim's family and will no doubt continue to be so.”

The Stoddart sisters and Miss Took had been to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in Ipswich to celebrate the elder girls' finishing their A-Level exams.

An inquest into their deaths has been opened and adjourned by Greater Suffolk coroner Dr Peter Dean so that further investigations into the cause of the crash to be carried out.

nPolice have arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving in connection with the crash. He has been bailed to return to Lowestoft police station on August 16.