Five Polish Students Died along the Somerset Coast in 1994 - what happened?

I was walking along the Somerset coast the other day and came across a memorial cross that had been cleared from the undergrowth. It said that 5 polish students had died there in 1994. Clearly a very tragic event but I wonder if anyone knows what happened?

Whereabouts did this occur?

Steart, nr Hinkley point

Sorry, can't help I'm afraid.
It's not that far away from where I am, but I don't recall hearing anything about this.

Nothing on the Internet that's easily findable. What's the name of the local newspaper round there?

I know, already checked.


Either The Bridgwater Mercury or The Western Daily Press.
It's really puzzling that there seems to be no mention of it at all on the internet.

I too saw this memorial today. I have lived near Stolford and walked along this path many times, bit it has only recently been cleared. I have tried searching on the Internet, but can find no reference to 5 Polish students being killed. very strange.

As far as I can ascertain they were in a Camper van and decided to take a short cut along the track that runs towards Steart marshes. It was night around 3am in October 1994.. The Van careered off the track and got wedged in a concrete marsh drain. The tide came in and sea water went up the drain : the could not get out of the van because the doors had jammed against the concrete walls of the drain. No one heard there cries for help because of the bleak desolate location I find it strange that a tragedy of this magnitude is not somewhere in the local press archives and nothing on the internet.

If it happened, it certainly is. Local newspaper archives, especially pre-2000, are not always online.

It was 5 students coming back from a rave, they careered off the top and into the ditch but couldn't be heard because of the remote location. My grandad was one of the first on site at the time. Hope this helps.

oh God, that is horrible - just before the days of widespread mobile phones.
And Sisyphus I think you would be hard pushed to find any news article online from those days. It's not a conspiracy.

I saw this yesterday with date on cross 15 July 1994 that's just over 25 years! I can't remember it so was surprised as I would have been that age myself.

I spoke to an old lady and she confirmed it was a car going over in a ditch and that a neighbour of hers knew more about it. Would be good to find out names of those who died also could do with some care some flowers or rosary seems a very sad story.

Do we know who put the cross there?