A British father and his two young children died when their car crashed on a French motorway amid fears he may have fallen asleep at the wheel.
The mother and their youngest child were in hospital on Sunday night having survived the horror smash, which happened during a family holiday.
The dead man was named locally as John Crompton, 31, from Hartlepool and it is understood his son Morgan, believed to be nine, and daughter Evielily, four, also died at the scene.
Mr Crompton’s partner Makayla and the couple’s third child, thought to be aged two, were critically injured and airlifted to a nearby hospital.
French investigators said it was possible the driver may have fallen asleep behind the wheel or was distracted by something which caused him to veer off the road.
Relatives in the close knit community in north Hartlepool were too devastated to talk yesterday but neighbours spoke of their shock at the tragedy.
The accident happened around 7:15 am local time on Sunday morning as the family’s Nissan car was travelling south on the A39 motorway between Dijon and Bourg-en-Bresse in the east of France.
The car is believed to have gone over a railing, smashed against a wall and then landed in a crumpled heap back on the road.
The three children were thrown from the car as it turned over after smashing into the wall.
The roof of the car was torn off by the impact and the vehicle was left on its side in the middle of the road, with the family's belongings strewn across the motorway.
Police said it was not clear what caused the vehicle to veer off the road and smash into the concrete wall of a motorway bridge but no other vehicle was involved in the collision.
“The crash may have been due to the driver falling asleep at the wheel or perhaps the driver was distracted by something and veered to the right,” said senior regional official Georges Bos at the crash site.
Gendarme Captain Gilles Quintaine told the Telegraph that an inquiry had been launched to determine the cause of the accident.
"We don't know how long the father had been driving for, whether he had been at the wheel all night or whether he had just got on the road this morning," he said.
"We are hoping that family members will be able to help us with that. We don't know what the family was doing in France but it looks like they were on holiday because their car was packed with luggage," he said.
In an interview with the France3 TV channel, a member of the emergency services said two of the children were dead when they arrived and the father was trapped.
Two air amublances were called to ferry the injured mother and surviving son to hospital and police closed off the motorway for several hours.
The scene was so devastating that a psychologist was brought in to counsel the two dozen rescue workers who worked at the crash site.
In Hartlepool, one neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "John was a big lad, he was only young. He's very much like his mum.
"It's absolutely awful. I'm just in shock."
Another neighbour said: "I knew that they were going away on holiday. It's just such a shock to be honest."
Another added: "All I heard was that they have lost a son and a daughter. I know John worked in Italy so he might have been on his way there.
"I'm just shocked. I still can't believe that it has happened to somebody we actually know."
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are providing assistance following a road traffic accident in France, in which three British nationals have sadly died and two others have been hospitalised.
"We are working closely with local authorities and supporting the families at this difficult time."