Landslide victims died 'instantly'

A couple who were killed when a landslide engulfed their car died almost instantly, a coroner said yesterday.

The inquest into the deaths of Rosemary Snell, 67, from Misterton, Somerset, and Michael Rolfe, 72, from Fivehead, Somerset, was opened and adjourned at West Dorset Coroner's Court.

They were driving home from a night out in Beaminster, Dorset, when their silver Skoda was flattened in a tunnel by hundreds of tons of mud and rubble.

Ms Snell and Mr Rolfe left the restaurant early on 7 July because of the appalling weather, but never made it home. Their bodies were undiscovered until Monday evening.