Pair sought after car crash leaves two dead near Doncaster

Police are continuing to search for two men who fled from a burning car after it crashed into the front garden of a house, leaving two people dead and another seriously injured.

The Renault Megane demolished the front garden of a detached house in Branton, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

South Yorkshire Police said five people were in the car. Two died, one was treated at the scene for serious injuries and the other two fled.

A spokesman said: "Police believe that the two other occupants of the car who remain unaccounted for are also seriously injured."

Michael Burton described how his girlfriend was in the house when the car smashed through the front wall of his garden and burst into flames.

He said the rockery in front of the house probably stopped the vehicle smashing into the house itself and setting the building on fire with his girlfriend inside.

The 21-year-old said his parents, who own the detached house, are on holiday in Tenerife.

Mr Burton said: "From what I heard, she (his girlfriend) actually saw the driver get out of the car, burning alive. He ran across the road to the lady across the road and she did a sterling job to help the guy.

"If it wasn't for her, he would have been another fatality."

Speaking in front of his wrecked front garden, Mr Burton described how he heard something as he was working at a nearby garden centre and thought it was a lorry that had clipped the kerb and toppled over.

He said he went to investigate and said: "I looked at my colleague, Dave, and just said: 'My garden's on fire'.

"We both ran up the road as quick as we could.

"My first thought was my girlfriend - is she alright, is she out of the house?"

He said: "There was the wall all over the floor and there was a car - a Renault Megane - upside down and on fire."

'Lost control a high speed'

Mr Burton said: "It seems that it has lost control a high speed, it's gone through the bollard a bit further down the road and it's gone through my wall.

"Luckily, we had a rockery in the garden because, if that rockery hadn't been there, I've got a feeling that the car would have gone through the front of the house.

"If that had happened the car would have been on fire and the house would have gone up in flames. My girlfriend was in there at the same time."

Mr Burton, who said there is a speeding problem on the road, added: "My heart goes out to the families. It's tragic, such a real shame."

One local business owner said his CCTV system caught cars speeding just moments before the crash.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "We saw there were two cars, possibly three cars, racing side-by-side and ... they were hitting one another. The wing mirrors and so-forth were flying off and dust from the edge of the road.

"After that they sped past and there was an almighty crash and that was out of sight."