Baby dies after Africa crash

The family were airlifted to hospital in Pretoria

A six-month-old baby has died and his father has been seriously injured in a car crash in Swaziland, Africa.

Mervyn Humphreys, 37, from Caersws in Powys, is being treated in hospital in Pretoria, South Africa after the crash on Tuesday.

His wife Portia, a Swaziland national who was driving the car, crawled from the wreckage but their son Cameron died on Saturday.

Mr Humphreys' mother Dorothy has flown out to be with the couple.

Speaking from the hospital in Pretoria where her son is on a respirator and has yet to regain consciousness, Mrs Humphreys told BBC Radio Wales that a lorry had crashed into the back of their car, pushing them 100m down a road and into other vehicles.

The force of the impact had split her grandson's child seat in two, she said.

He was a lovely little lad, absolutely gorgeous Dorothy Humphreys

After the family were airlifted to hospital, she said that Cameron had been put on a life support machine and the family were expecting to make a decision on how long he should stay on it on Saturday.

But in the early hours of Saturday morning his heart began to fail and he died at 0100 South African time.

"Cameron is brilliant," said Mrs Humphreys.

"He was just getting his personality and he had grown ever so much in the three weeks since I'd seen him.

"He was a lovely little lad, absolutely gorgeous.

"Portia's parents were here yesterday and they are heartbroken. They had only recently met their grandson for the first time. But he is gone now."

Mr Humphreys, who owns a plumbing business in Caersws, suffered a broken leg, a broken ankle, a broken pelvis, a broken jaw and a broken bone in the back of his neck in the crash.

He is yet to learn of his son's death.

His wife, who had been living in Caersws for about six years, suffered neck injuries in the crash.

The family had been travelling to a game reserve in Swaziland

The couple, who married in Swaziland on 6 August, had been driving to a game reserve when the crash happened.

Mrs Humphreys said her son's friends had clubbed together to pay for her flight to South Africa but that she had only limited funds to pay for a room at the hospital.

She said she may have to stay for three months while her son's injuries heal and vowed to sleep in a chair when her money ran out.

She made an appeal for financial help as she has no relatives to assist her and is on immobility allowance.

"I need everybody to know because I need friends here because I have got nothing," she said.

"I could be here for three months, as long as it takes for Mervyn to get healed and get up.

"When he becomes conscious he is going to be in a worse state."