Deadly Viola Beach Car Crash May Have Been Deliberate, Say Police

Swedish police have unveiled a pretty shocking update in their investigation into the update of the deadly car crash involving British band Viola Beach. All four members of the band, their manager and the driver were killed when their car plunged off a bridge into a canal in Södertälje in Sweden on Feb. 13. The reasons for this have been unknown, but Swedish police now suspect that the crash was deliberate.

According to a video reconstruction by Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the band's Nissan Qashqai pulled up behind other cars waiting at a barrier, which was raised because part of the bridge had been raised while an oil tanker was passing through. According to the paper via The Guardian, the car then pulls around two other cars, crashes through the barrier and into the water out of view from the CCTV cameras.

There were no apparent faults with the almost new rented car according to police.

"We can't find any secondary explanation," says Lars Berglund, one of the police officers investigating the case. "It looked like the driver acted deliberately."

The car accelerated through another barrier, struck the part-raised bridge and plunged 30 meters into the water. Berglund says the initial contact could have killed all of the passengers inside the vehicle upon impact.

Initial toxicology screenings showed no signs of drugs or alcohol in the driver's blood. Police still do not know who the driver is.

Speaking to a man who was driving the car first in line to cross the bridge, Kent Uddén described the man who was driving the Viola Beach car as a "maniac."

"All I heard then inside the car was a muffled bang. It was hard to understand what had happened, it was all so surreal," he recalled.