Los Angeles, CA : Mother-of-two died in head-on crash by a suspected drunk driver on early Sunday morning July 20th 2014

A Leicester mum-of-two has died in Los Angeles after the car she was in was hit head-on by a suspected drunk driver.

Vina Shah, 52, of Scraptoft, had been in the States with her two teenage children for a family reunion.

She was sitting in the back seat of a car which was involved in the horrific crash on the raised four-lane highway, just after 2am on Sunday.

The California Highway Patrol said the 28-year-old male driver of the other car was travelling the wrong way down the 210 Freeway in Rancho Cucamonga, on the Los Angeles outskirts.

Vina, her relative Falguni Shah, 38, and the other car’s driver were all killed.

Two people in the front of Vina’s car were badly injured and are being treated in hospital. Highway officers said all four in the car were related.

Vina’s daughter Freya, 19, also from Scraptoft, posted on Facebook from America yesterday that she was “forever heartbroken” by the tragedy, and blamed the other driver for drink driving.

She wrote: “No one should ever have to write this – my mum passed away in a tragic car accident here in LA.

“I have no words to say.

“Her death was due to a drunk driver, driving the wrong way on the motorway resulting in a head-on collision.”

Freya, who was featured in the Mercury earlier this year after competing to become Miss Leicestershire, pleaded with all motorists to never drink and drive.

She said: “Please think before you drink-drive, whether you are completely drunk off your face or you’ve had one sip, you should never get behind the wheel.

“If you do, you should know you are attempting murder.”

Vina’s husband, Biren, flew to the States on Monday morning to be with Freya and her 15-year-old brother Janith and to bring back his wife’s body.

Amrat Patel, 71, who lives next door to the family in Scraptoft, said he spoke to Biren on Sunday.

Amrat told the Mercury: “There were many relatives coming to the house and Biren was very upset but desperate to sort out his visa and tickets to go to America to bring back the children and their mother’s body.

“We’ve tried to help him and sit with him and support him.

“Vina was a very nice woman. I’ve lived next door to them all for 29 years and watched the family grow up so I’m very upset myself and so are the others around here.

“We all know the family and I couldn’t believe what Biren told me about the accident.

“It’s a terrible thing.”

Brenda Sutton, 84, who lives opposite the family home, said she also could not believe what had happened.

She said: “I spoke to Vina just before she left as she was packing the car up.

“I told her I hoped she enjoyed her holiday and I could tell she was very much looking forward to going out there.

“I just couldn’t believe what I heard. They were such a lovely couple together and they were always friendly and helped me with my shopping.”

Police in LA named the two survivors from Vina’s car as Nitin Shah, 60, and Jyotsna Shah, 56, who were both residents of California.

Falguni Shah, the other woman who died, was also a US resident.

California Highway Patrol Captain Joe Flores told America KTLA television: “The first report we got of a wrong-way driver was only several miles from this scene, east of our location.

“The collision happened pretty quick after the initial report of the wrong-way driver.”

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London said: “We are aware of the death of a British national on July 20 in California.

“We are providing consular assistance at this difficult time.”

Source :
Leicester mum-of-two dies in Los Angeles head-on crash