Floral tributes laid at the scene where three teenagers died in River Wear tragedy
Northumbria Police are appealing for eyewitnesses to come forward
Flowers and tributes have been laid at the scene of where a car plunged into the River Wear resulting in the death of three teenagers.
The tragic event on Tuesday, September 29 sparked a major emergency services response, but sadly the bodies of two teenage boys and a teenage girl were recovered from the river later that day.
Yesterday evening, Chief Supt Scott Cowie, Area Commander for Sunderland, named the three deceased youngsters as Jackson Duke, 17, and Luke Etheridge and Zara Shaw, both aged 16.
Jackson and Luke were from the Sunderland area, while Zara was from Houghton-le-Spring.
The trio were students at Sunderland College, who yesterday described the deaths as a “heart-breaking loss for our college community and the wider city of Sunderland”.
Sunderland AFC and leading figures across the city and region also sent their condolences to the families.
Yesterday evening and this morning, people have started to lay floral tributes to the teenagers and messages of support for the families.
As well as an array of flowers, cuddly toys and balloons were also laid at the site close to where the car entered the river. Tied to the barriers were personal messages paying tribute to the youngsters as well as offering words of support and condolence to the grieving families.
Red and white Sunderland AFC scarves were also tied to the barriers.
The 17-year-old boy who reached safety was initially taken to hospital but has since been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and is in police custody.
Anyone with information, particularly those with CCTV or dashcam footage, should send Northumbria Police a direct message on social media or use the report forms on theirs website at https://www.northumbria.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/.
Anyone with footage should submit this via the following link: https://mipp.police.uk/operation/10NP26A30-PO1
You can also call 101 and quote reference number NP-20260929-0589.