Nathan and Rebecca Asekaran had no idea their limousine driver was involved in the airshow jet crash. Photo / Facebook
Nathan and Rebecca Asekaran had no idea their limousine driver was involved in the airshow jet crash. Photo / Facebook
A bride and groom who were due to be collected by a limousine that was obliterated by a fighter jet have spoken of their horror after hearing that the driver is feared dead.
Rebecca and Rajendran Asekaran went ahead with their big day yesterday and only found out about the Shoreham Airshow disaster after spotting pictures of the wreckage during the ceremony.
The driver, who has not been named, was on his way to collect the bride from her home in Goring-by-Sea when a Hawker Hunter fighter jet smashed into the luxury Daimler and ripped off the roof.
He is believed to have been inside the vintage car when the plane plummeted onto the A27 and burst into a huge fireball, but his condition is not yet known.
Mrs Asekaran, who arrived home with family this morning carrying her wedding cake, told The Mirror: "My thoughts are with the families and we want to know how the driver is.
"We're fine. The wedding wasn't ruined, it was beautiful, it was lovely."
The couple said they were horrified to see pictures of the burnt-out Daimler which was due to take the bride to Findon Manor in West Sussex.
Her father found out the news of the unfolding tragedy on his iPhone as the ceremony went ahead and said the whole family were anxious to hear news about the driver.
He said: "I looked on my iPhone and saw a picture of the carnage and could pick out the car that was meant to be here."
The mother-of-the-bride said: "We knew there had been a crash. The wedding went ahead. The photographer took myself and the bridesmaids and my husband went with some of other."
The aircraft, which first entered service with the RAF in 1955, crushed a Vauxhall Corsa which was heading along the busy road past the airport.
Emergency services attend the fatal scene where an historic Hawker Hunter fighter jet plane plummeted onto the major south coast road. Photo / AP
It lost control after striking the car and soon broke up, engulfing the vintage Daimler DS420 in a fireball as the disintegrating jet sprayed burning aviation fuel over the carriageway.
The Daimler was on the opposite side of the road, heading from Brighton towards Worthing when it was destroyed.
Jay Sherwin, who works at the firm, told the Sun: 'I can confirm that it is one of our cars but at this stage I do not know what happened to the driver.
"I am waiting to hear from his wife and the police. All I will tell you is that he is a lovely guy and has worked for the company for 20 years. He was on his way to pick up a bride just along the road from Shoreham."
The company was first alerted to the accident when the couple due to get married called the company said the car had not turned up.
Yesterday, relative Sarah Winton, 21, tweeted: "My stepdad's sister's hire car who was picking up for her wedding was hit by the plane today. So sad.
Worthing United footballers Jacob Schilt, 23, and Matt Grimstone have been named as among the 11 victims along with gym instructor Matt Jones, 24, after former RAF jet pilot Andy Hill crashed into several cars.
Miraculously, the pilot, who flies for British Airways, was pulled from the flaming wreckage of his jet and flown by air ambulance to hospital. He is currently in a critical condition.
South East Coast Ambulance Service said earlier that at least seven people had died in the crash, 14 were injured, with four of them taken to hospital.
Footage has emerged showing the single-seater 1950s jet hurtling towards the ground before it exploded into a massive ball of flames and smoke.
Mr Hill, who is in his 50s, is a very experienced pilot with more than 12,000 hours in the cockpit. His wife is also understood to be a very experienced airline pilot.
As the aircraft came to the bottom of its loop, Mr Hill pitched the nose of the aircraft up in a desperate attempt to gain altitude, but the jet continued downwards.
The first fire crews were on the scene within seconds of the aircraft coming to a rest and the pilot was pulled from the cockpit, which had broken away from the rest of the air frame.
Superintendent Jane Derrick, from Sussex Police, said that at least seven people died at the scene. All of those who died are believed to have died on the A27 between Worthing and Brighton.
A specialist team of officers are continuing to search the scene of the accident to ensure that they have identified all of the victims.
Terry Smith, 50, bravely risked his life to pull stricken people from cars stranded as flames engulfed the A27 in Shoreham, West Sussex.
He revealed that he was so close to the blaze it scorched his skin, saying: "I can't believe I escaped with my life.
"It seemed to come in at a really strange angle. He just didn't have enough height. I was just thinking, this is coming too close, it's not going to make it, it's not going to make it.
"He just slammed into the cars that were queuing. There was this huge fireball and as it went past, it was like something out of a horror movie. It turned into a big black fireball as it went past.
"I just grabbed my daughter and we ran towards the bushes instinctively. I got hit by some of the debris, it scuffed my leg but I wasn't injured.
"The fireball was just immense, it was searing heat I could feel burning my skin."
The Royal Sussex County hospital was put on alert for a major incident and a number of helicopters have been deployed to the scene to evacuate casualties to hospital.
Witnesses have described seeing the jet stall during a loop-the-loop stunt and fail to complete the manoeuvre before smashing into waiting traffic belly down in a 'massive ball of flames'.
Tony Wallace, 48 from Shoreham, watched the crash from nearby Mill Hill with his friends and two children.
He said: "The Hunter came from the airport and flew over us and did and loop the loop to go back around to the airport, but at the bottom of the loop it just seemed to lose power and went into the ground belly down in a massive ball of flames."
"We could see it all; it went down on the A27 by the lights near the airport. That road has been chockablock all day and we can see stationary cars there now. There's still plume of smoke, fire engines and a car covered in foam. It looks like a warzone.
"There are around 200 people watching it here and there was a gasp of horror. If the pilot ejected, we didn't see it."
