Baby died during safari park trip

Cameron Humphreys died after the accident in August 2007

An inquest has heard how a family holiday turned to tragedy when a six-month-old baby died and his father was left paralysed in a road crash.

Mervyn Humphreys and his wife Portia, from Caersws, Powys, married during the trip, days before a lorry smashed into the rear of their car in Swaziland.

Mrs Humphreys, a Swaziland national, was driving at the time, with her husband and son Cameron in the back.

Powys coroner Peter Maddox recorded a verdict of accidental death on Cameron.

The Welshpool inquest heard how Mrs Humphreys was driving to a safari park in the southern African country when the crash happened.

Mr Humphreys suffered a broken leg, ankle, pelvis, jaw, ribs and a broken bone in the back of his neck.

He is paralysed down one side, and is still recovering in hospital more than a year on.

In a statement read by the coroner, Mrs Humphreys said they had decided to visit a safari park on 21 August, 2007.

She described the moments before the accident when she was forced to stop the car because a lorry was coming towards her, overtaking slower traffic on the opposite side of the road.

Portia and Mervyn Humphreys survived the crash

"I had to stop, there was nowhere else to go," she said.

"Then a passenger in a van coming towards us jumped out of the van with wide eyes looking at something behind us."

Mrs Humphreys said she then felt something hit the car from behind with "a huge impact" and their car was pushed 100m (328ft) into the vehicles in front.

"I was totally stunned. My immediate thought was to get out of the car, I thought it might catch fire," she added.

"I then turned my attention to my family and I could see Mervyn slumped forward motionless, his head turned in such a way I could see he was seriously hurt."

She said a lorry had "totally crushed" the back of the car and while she could not see Cameron - who had been in a car seat - she could hear him crying.

Firefighters freed her husband while Mrs Humphreys and her son were eventually airlifted to hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, where she was told Cameron had a fractured skull.

She said doctors operated on Cameron and put him on a life-support machine, but he died on 25 August.

A post-mortem examination revealed he died from a blunt head injury.