Mystery surrounds the death of man killed in a moped crash while on holiday in Turkey, an inquest has heard.
Kyle Barrow, 27, died in hospital after suffering severe injuries in the smash in Manavgat, Antalya, on June 7 of last year. Kyle, from Oldham, had only arrived in the resort a day earlier after booking a last-minute trip with his friend, Callum Noble.
An inquest at Rochdale Coroner’s Court today (Tuesday) heard that ‘the exact circumstances’ of the crash that claimed Kyle’s life remain ‘unknown’. Mr Noble told the hearing he and Kyle, his friend of ten years, had hired mopeds together on the morning of the tragedy.
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Mr Noble said he was riding in front and recalled looking in the rear-view mirror to see Kyle behind him laughing. However, Mr Noble later realised his friend was no longer following him.
He said he turned the bike around and found Kyle lying in the road in a ‘pool of blood’. Mr Noble said a lorry had stopped in the road near to Kyle, and ‘witnesses said he had driven into the back of a lorry or it had taken him out’.
Kyle was still conscious so he moved him onto some grass, he told the hearing. Mr Noble said his friend ‘seemed as if he was trying to laugh but died in my arms’.
Mr Noble said people at the scene tried to resuscitate Kyle before an ambulance arrived and took him to hospital. After an agonising wait, he said doctors informed him that Kyle was ‘with the angels’.
Mr Noble said that Turkish police officers later claimed that Kyle had ‘drove into a palm tree’. “From where he was that looked impossible to me,” he added.
He said he and Kyle had been ‘driving carefully’ but that neither of them had been wearing helmets.
Kyle’s father, Marc Downs, described his son as an ‘active man’ who enjoyed going out with his friends. He said Kyle, who worked as a salesman, had only decided to go on holiday a few days before he and Mr Noble flew out to Turkey on June 6.
Mr Downs said that prior to the holiday, he did not believe that Kyle had ever been on a moped.
Pathologist Dr Emil Salmo gave Mr Barrow’s cause of death as ‘multiple fatal injuries’. He said a post-mortem examination revealed he had suffered numerous injuries, including to his spine, femur and pelvic bone.
Coroner Michael Salt ruled that Mr Barrow’s death had been the result of a ‘road traffic collision’. Delivering his conclusion, he said: “Kyle died on June 7, 2023, in Manavgat, Turkey, having been involved in a road traffic collision.
“The exact circumstances of the road traffic collision are unknown.”
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
