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A truck driver who filmed the aftermath of Diogo Jota’s car crash has disputed claims that the Liverpool footballer was speeding in his Lamborghini before the accident.
Jota and his younger brother Andre Silva both died last Thursday when they were travelling along the A-52 motorway in north-west Spain in the early hours of the morning.
Jota’s bright green Lamborghini Huracan suffered a suspected tyre blowout before it veered off the road and burst into flames.
A preliminary report from Spain’s Guardia Civil police force has revealed that Jota was most likely the driver of the car, while evidence from the crash ‘points to a possible excessive speed beyond the speed limit of the road’.
Jose Azevedo, a Portuguese truck driver, was travelling along the A-52 when he encountered the burning Lamborghini with Jota and his younger brother inside the vehicle.
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Azevedo, who filmed the car on fire as he approached the accident in his truck, says he tried to put out the flames and insists the Lamborghini did not appear to be exceeding the 120km/h (75mph) speed limit.
‘The truck driver, which was me, filmed it, stopped, grabbed the fire extinguisher and tried to help. I tried to help but due to the impact of the accident, there was nothing I could do, absolutely nothing,’ Azevedo said in a video.
‘They passed me completely calmly and were not speeding. You have my word they weren’t speeding. They were completely relaxed.
‘I drive this road Monday through Saturday and I know it’s a terrible place. It’s a dark road. I could see the make and colour of the car.
‘I offer my sincere condolences. I have a clear conscience, I know what I saw. Unfortunately, that’s how it ended. I stopped filming, tried to help, but unfortunately, there was nothing I could do.’
Spain’s Guardia Civil said: ‘The expert report is still being worked on and finalised.
‘Among other things traffic police from the Zamora branch of the Civil Guard are studying the tread marked by one of the wheels of the vehicle.
‘Everything is also pointing to a possible high excess of speed over the permitted speed on that stretch of the motorway.
‘All the tests carried out for the moment point to the driver of the crash vehicle being Diogo Jota.
‘The expert police report when it is finalised will be handed over to a court in Puebla de Sanabria.’
Jota was travelling to the northern Spanish port of Santander to take a ferry to England ahead of his return to Liverpool for the start of their pre-season campaign.
The 28-year-old father-of-three, who won the Premier League title with Liverpool last season and married his partner Rute Cardoso 11 days before the crash, had been advised not to fly after undergoing a lung procedure.
Jota and Andre Silva were buried in their home city of Gondomar near Porto last Saturday.
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