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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Barney Davis

Survivor speaks of loss of friend, 33, killed in Park Royal crash

Yagmur Ozden, 33, was described as an angel by her family

(Picture: Linkedin)

The survivor of a horror Range Rover crash has spoken of how the driver swerved to avoid an animal before spinning off and landing on a tube line in west London.

Zamarod Arif, 26, spoke from her hospital bed about the loss of her “best friend” eyelash technician Yagmur Ozden, 33, who died in the high speed crash on Monday morning.

She had met the driver at a shisha restaurant, called the Wish Lounge, less than a mile from the scene of the accident at 3.50am on Monday.

The jewellery store manager was driving his Range Rover back at high-speed, the survivor claimed.

Miss Arif told MailOnline: “I told them both to put on their seatbelts, but they did not listen.

“Yag was my best friend and my heart is just breaking. I know I am lucky to be alive and I hope he makes a full recovery. I am so sad, my heart is breaking.

“God has saved me and given me another chance.”

The driver is still fighting for life at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.

Miss Arif, who describes herself as a personal trainer, said that she was cut out of the car and remains in hospital with a broken arm and leg.

Park Royal station after the crash (Jeremy Selwyn)

Miss Ozden’s family said she had a “kind heart” who loved “spending time with friends and family”. They described her as “an angel” who was “very funny and could cheer up the saddest person”.

“She was an amazing and supportive mother,” they said. “She had an amazing bond with her daughter and her daughter will always cherish those moments she had with her mum.”

Her family, who were on holiday at the time of the fatal crash, said the 33-year-old had “always been afraid of speed and cars,” according to the MailOnline

Miss Arif’s brother Raza Arif told the Daily Mail: “It meant a lot that she survived. That is my blood, that is my flesh, that is my everything.”

Taxi driver Nawaf, who witnessed the crash and captured it on his Tesla dashcam, told the Standard: “It was an awful experience. I saw her friends yesterday and she said she is a single mum and her daughter is very young which is very, very sad.

“This friend was meant to be with her that night. She is a lucky one but who cares about luck when you lose a loved one.”

A man, 56, believed to have been inside a Tesla that was parked at a charging station was treated for “non life-threatening” injuries.

Police have said they are investigating whether racing had taken place before the horrific crash.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The 23-year-old man remains in a critical condition in hospital and enquiries to establish the circumstances of what happened are ongoing.”

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