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<\/a>![\"Yvette](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/H3JWQCVGEVKHPGOJSHUTA4QRIU.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) opened an investigation into the circumstances leading to the crash in South Bank after a mandatory referral from the force.<\/p>\n
Officers from Cleveland Police spotted a suspicious vehicle and a pursuit began before the car travelled onto the A66 and collided with a police car, the watchdog said.<\/p>\n
The A66 is closed in both directions between Normanby Road and Church Lane in Eston.<\/p>\n
Police officers manned both ends of the cordon and the crash site was not visible from the road closures.<\/p>\n
A large white tent has been erected over the scene, with multiple emergency service vehicles around.<\/p>\n
Police have put into effect a drone exclusion zone around the scene of the collision.<\/p>\n
The closed section of the A66 is bordered by large industrial units to the north and is close to the major Teesworks site.<\/p>\n
![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ENBKDPG6Q5P6TINXV2NRXYZ5CI.jpg\")
Police officers at the scene of the fatal crash (Owen Humphreys\/PA) <\/p>\n
Chief Constable Victoria Fuller, of Cleveland Police, said the force would co-operate fully with the investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this investigation takes place, we strongly urge people to avoid speculation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was \u201cdevastated\u201d to hear seven people were killed in the collision.<\/p>\n
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the crash was \u201cdevastating\u201d, adding her thoughts were with all those affected.<\/p>\n
Anna Turley, MP for the Redcar constituency where the crash happened, said the A66 would remain closed in both directions between Normanby Road and Church Lane, and urged the public to avoid the area and use alternative routes.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cCleveland Police have confirmed that seven people have sadly lost their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir families and loved ones are now facing an unimaginable loss that will be felt forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of the seven people who have lost their lives were Cleveland Police officers, on duty serving our community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went to work to keep people safe and they should have come home to their families.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir loss will be felt deeply by their loved ones, fellow officers and right across the communities they served.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KOOHO7O6TFOCHOF564PUXZ2THY.jpg\")
A police officer at the scene of the crash (Owen Humphreys\/PA) <\/p>\n
David Taylor and Stephen Martin, councillors for the Eston ward, said they were \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by the \u201cunimaginable tragedy\u201d.<\/p>\n
A post on their Facebook page read: \u201cWe are deeply saddened by the devastating news that seven people have lost their lives following a collision on the A66 at South Bank in the early hours of this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
It continued: \u201cThis is an unimaginable tragedy that will be felt deeply throughout TS6 and communities across Cleveland and around the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cleveland Police Federation chairwoman Lauren Somerville said: \u201cWords cannot describe the pain the Cleveland Police family are feeling today.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur colleagues who should have been going home to their loved ones at the end of their shifts are not. And that is just unfathomable.<\/p>\n
\u201cCleveland Police Federation will be offering full support to our fallen colleagues\u2019 families and they have all of our love and care at this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the time is right we will pay full tribute to our brave colleagues. But we can assure that their sacrifice will never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven people, including two police officers, have died in a crash following a pursuit in the early hours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20947],"tags":[56740,56741,56738,25,56742,1875,5356,56739],"class_list":["post-77206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-volkswagen","tag-a66","tag-cleveland-police","tag-north-east","tag-police","tag-police-car-crash","tag-uk","tag-volkswagen","tag-yorks-humber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}