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TWO married couples are dead after their British car veered off the road and smashed into trees in Germany.

The horrific accident happened shortly after midnight on Saturday near a highway in the Kassel district, north of Hesse in central Germany.

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The 32-year-old male driver and three female passengers aged 30, 31 and 32 all died at the scene despite the best efforts of German emergency services.

The vehicle had a British number plate, but The Sun understands UK officials have not been contacted for assistance in relation to the crash.

The car appears to have veered off the road at around 12:30am on Saturday.

It shot into a coppice of trees around 30m from the road, according to the Kassel police department.

One of the victims’ phones sent an automatic alert to the emergency services, who sent an ambulance to the scene.

Fire engines, more ambulances and police vehicles were all dispatched when the severity of the accident became clear.

The car was on its side and wedged between two trees when crews arrived.

Emergency workers only discovered there was a car full of people when they removed the roof.

All four people were pronounced dead at the scene after being pulled from the wreckage.

Those who worked on the victims were immediately supported by the specialist mental health workers.

A fire department spokesperson said: “The situation on scene was that a car was lying on its side, wedged between several trees.

“Initially, we assumed there were only two people in the wreckage.

“A crew was therefore dispatched to explore the wider area to search for any occupants who might have been ejected during the impact.

“At the same time, the vehicle was stabilized and a technical rescue using hydraulic rescue equipment was initiated.

“Shortly after the start of operations, we identified another person in the back seat.

“Once we had almost completely removed the roof, we discovered another person in the car.

“The emergency doctor checked the vital functions of the occupants, but unfortunately could only confirm that all of them were dead.”

Reflecting on the night’s horrors, the spokesperson said: “This high number of deaths is an extraordinary operation for our Reinhardshagen Volunteer Fire Department.

“For some of the emergency personnel, it is the first time they have been confronted with death in this way.

“Therefore, a great deal is being done to help us process these images.

“We will also discuss this among ourselves and within families, because not everyone can easily shake off what they have seen.”

A police investigation into the crash is ongoing.

German football club to shift away from ‘Visit Rwanda’ sponsorship after criticism from fans.

Bayern Munich has signalled it will cut down on “Visit Rwanda” branding as it moves “away from a commercial sponsorship” with the African nation facing a backlash over alleged support for rebels in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Bayern dismissed allegations of “sportswashing” when it signed a five-year deal with Rwanda in 2023. It included advertisements in the stadium and what Bayern called events “to promote tourism and investment opportunities in Rwanda”.

At the time, it replaced a sponsorship deal with Qatar. Rwanda has similar sponsorships with European football giants like Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid.

Some Bayern fans displayed a large banner at a game in February protesting against the deal amid accusations from the United Nations that Rwanda has backed rebels in the DRC.

Now the German football champions say they have reached a new deal with Rwanda that turns the existing sponsorship into a three-year agreement focusing on developing young football players at a Bayern-affiliated academy in the country.

“In constructive talks about our future direction, we agreed that a very special part of our relationship with [the Rwanda Development Board (RDB)] was the developmental nature of our work in Kigali through the FC Bayern Academy,” Bayern Chief Executive Jan-Christian Dreesen said on Friday in a statement.

“We are therefore transforming our commercial partnership into a talent programme and expanding the FC Bayern Academy in Kigali together with the RDB as both a football and social initiative. This remains perfectly aligned to our strategic objective of developing playing talent in Africa.”

Bayern didn’t specify how soon it would drop “Visit Rwanda” branding as part of the move, which it described as a transition. As of Friday afternoon, the branding was still displayed under a section of the Bayern website listing club sponsors and partners.

RDB Chief Executive Jean-Guy Afrika was quoted by Bayern as saying the changes to the partnership aimed to “accelerate sports development”, adding: “This continued partnership with FC Bayern helps ensure that talent development remains anchored in our broader vision to position Rwanda as a global hub for tourism, investment, and high-performance sport.”

Rwanda’s presence in European football has grown steadily since 2018 when it first partnered with Arsenal to put “Visit Rwanda” branding on the London club’s shirt sleeves.

An agreement with PSG was signed in 2019 and renewed in April this year. It covers branding in the stadium and included shirt-sleeve sponsorship at the Club World Cup. A three-year deal to sponsor Atletico was agreed in April, including branding on training and warm-up shirts.

Rwanda is accused of supporting the M23 rebel group, the strongest of more than 100 armed groups vying for dominance in the mineral-rich eastern DRC just across the border from Rwanda. Rwanda also has been accused of exploiting the eastern DRC’s minerals, used in smartphones, advanced fighter jets and much more.

Rwandan authorities alleged that some of the people who participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide fled to the DRC and are either working with or are being protected by the Congolese army. They have denied involvement in the DRC’s minerals sector and said any security action taken is to protect its own territory.

An Air India flight skidded off the runway while landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in heavy rain.

Flight AI 2744 from Kochi suffered a “runway excursion” the airline said.

It veered off the runway and suffered damage to an engine.

All passengers and crew were able to deplane safely and no injuries were reported.

It was able to taxi to the gate.

The plane is now out of service pending repairs.

“Flight AI2744 experienced heavy rain during landing, resulting in a runway excursion after touchdown. The aircraft taxied safely to the gate, and all passengers and crew members have since disembarked,” an airline spokesperson said.

An airport spokesperson said the landing caused minor damage to the runway.

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