Daughter of taxi driver killed in Bolton crash ‘in shock’

The daughter of a taxi driver who was killed in a head-on collision, which also killed three teenagers, has said she is “in shock” and it all feels like “a bad dream”.

Masrob Ali, 54, from Blackburn, died when his taxi was involved in head-on collision with another car on Wigan Road in Bolton on Sunday.

Humayra Ali, 29, said her family were “devastated” and heartbroken, adding: “My first thought was how scared my father must have been in that one split moment before his life was lost.”

Three teenagers also died in the collision – Muhammad Danyaal Asghar Ali, 19, Farhan Patel, 18, and Mohammed Jibrael Mukhtar, 18 – all from Bolton.

Police are continuing to investigate what happened.

A red Seat Leon collided with a Citroen C4 Picasso, driven by Masrob Ali, at about 00:45 GMT.

Five passengers from both vehicles remain in hospital for treatment.

In the Citroen, a 29-year-old woman has suffered potentially life-threatening injuries, a 28-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man suffered serious injuries and a 29-year-old man has minor injuries.

An 18-year-old man, who was a passenger in the Seat, remains in hospital with minor injuries.

“It’s absolutely devastating,” Humayra Ali told BBC Manchester: “We are all in shock – even in denial.

“I feel like it’s just a bad dream that I’m about to wake up from.

“He was just a really good man – anyone would say so.

“Anyone who has known him would say he’s a kind man – very generous, has a big heart.

“People have come back to tell me that he had the gentlest soul, he’s hard-working – and he was very hard-working right until his last breath.”

She added: “We are trying to expedite the process so that we can have the funeral as soon as possible.”

Det Insp Andrew Page said: “We are still in the early stages of our investigation and work is ongoing to establish the full circumstances of this terrible incident.”

He warned people to “be mindful of sharing footage on social media given the impact this will have on all the families involved in such a tragic incident”.

He appealed for any witnesses to come forwards and thanked those officers who were first arrived at the “particularly challenging” scene, including police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and the North West Ambulance Service.