Honeymooners killed in quad bike crash

Two British honeymooners have died in the tourist paradise of the Maldives, after their vehicle crashed into a tree.

Staff at the northern Kuredu Island Resort discovered the couple early Saturday, while another foreign national believed to be involved in the accident, was found injured.

They were riding a four-wheel scooter similar to a quad bike, which met with an accident," Police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam said.

British newspaper reports named the couple as Jonathan and Emma Gray from Halifax in West Yorkshire.

The Daily Mail newspaper said they died as they were being driven back to their villa at a luxury resort on Kuredu when their vehicle smashed into a tree at 4am.

The driver of the vehicle, who was in hospital with serious injuries, did not work at the hotel at which the couple was staying.

"We have a full team of officers investigating the tragic deaths of this couple. What we know so far is that they were being driven back to their room at around 4am on Saturday when their quad vehicle was involved in an accident," Mr Shiyam told the Daily Mail.

"It appears that their vehicle crashed into a tree and they suffered fatal injuries. The driver of the quad bike was also seriously injured and is being treated at hospital.'

"At this stage it is unclear exactly why he was driving the couple of the vehicle and what caused them to crash. We have a team of officers working hard on the matter and hope to be able to give a clearer picture of what happened in the coming days.

"All causes of action remain open to us and we cannot rule out criminal proceedings in the future."

The couple arrived on Kuredu last Thursday to honeymoon on the white sandy beach island, where luxurious thatched roof bungalows are built over turquoise blue waters.

Tourism is a key form of revenue for the Indian Ocean atoll nation of 1,200 chain of islands.

For the six months to June, 53,226 British holidaymakers arrived in the Maldives, 4.8 per cent down on the same period in 2010.

[Source : yahoo.com]