A 24-year-old LSE law graduate begged her friend ‘Don’t leave me here’ as she lay dying after she fled from a burning car and fell 40ft from a flyover.
Azra Kemal, 24, was on her way home from a night out with friends and was in the car with a 31-year-old male friend when the engine in her car suddenly burst into flames.
An inquest today heard how Ms Kemal fell through a 10ft-wide void between two carriageways on a road bridge while trying to flag down passing vehicles for help after the freak accident on the northbound A21 near Tonbridge, Kent.
Azra Kemal, 24, died after falling through a 10ft-wide void between carriageways on a road bridge
The accident happened around 2.30am on Thursday on a two span bridge – known as the Medway Viaduct
But it is understood the London School of Economics graduate climbed over the barriers in darkness thinking there was a central reservation in between the carriageways and fell.
The inquest was opened today by coroner Alan Blundson at County Hall in Maidstone, Kent, who gave her cause of death as multiple severe injuries.
The single graduate of Whetstone, North London, was identified by police who were called to the scene shortly after 2.30am on Thursday, July 16.
Mr Blunsdon said the occupants escaped after the vehicle caught fire by ‘unknown means’ before ‘witnesses travelling past saw two people on the carriageway approaching the central reservation.’.
Azra then clambered over the central reservation and fell an approximate 40ft drop off the Medway Viaduct to the Haysden Country Park below.
An off-duty nurse saw the car and called paramedics who attended but Azra was pronounced dead at 3.20am.
The coroner added: ‘She died in situ after medical intervention.’
Mr Blunsdon adjourned the inquest until 10.30am on November 12 at County Hall, Maidstone.
Azra’s mother Nevres Kemal, 56, spoke the day after her daughter’s death at her home in Whetstone, north London.
Ms Kemal was the whistleblower social worker who exposed failings in Haringey Council’s childcare system months before Baby P died in 2007.
Ms Kemal climbed over the barriers thinking that there was a central reservation between the carriageways before falling to her death
Speaking about her daughter’s death, she said: ‘There is no life in the home. She was really and truly the air that I breathe. That is all I live for, for her.
‘I am in total shock. I do not know what to say. She had friends from North, South, East and West. She did not have postcodes. She bridged that gap. She came good.
‘She was such a giver, she was so bright and feisty. What I have heard from all her friends is that Azra would give love and try to help.
‘She was no angel but she had that quality. There was no judgemental bone in her body.
‘She was my world. I can’t cry anymore. She doted on me and I doted on her. She was a beautiful soul. She always used to say: ‘I am an old soul’.’
Azra’s mother Nevres Kemal (pictured in 2008) revealed that her home felt empty without her only child
Ms Kemal told how police came round to break the news hours after Azra’s death.
She added: ‘Two police officers came to the door and I knew, and they said her name, I said her name, and they told me of her demise.
‘She was driving along the A21 with friends in the car. They were swapping drivers. She rang about 2.30am to tell me something, that she was coming back.
‘I came downstairs and I knew she was not coming home and I could not ring her back.
‘There was a fault with the car and it started to smoke. They got out of the car and moved away from the car. Then it exploded.
‘They were trying to wave people down and also they crossed the central reservation.
‘She climbed up and there was no concrete. This reservation was not there. It was pitch black so she has fallen 40 feet to the earth. She was still alive. The guy jumped down and could not see her.
‘She said ‘Don’t leave me here’. Fortunately an off-duty nurse was passing and saw the car and she called the paramedics.
‘The accident happened at 2.34am and she was pronounced dead at 3.20am. Her last words were ‘Please don’t let me die’.’
Sky News’s Home Editor Jason Farrell also paid tribute to Azra, who had helped set up interviews for him with reporting on county lines drug issues, earlier this month.
The Medway Viaduct (pictured at the scene) has one bridge for south-bound traffic and a separate second bridge for London-bound traffic around 10ft apart
Despite an off-duty nurse passing at the time who called for paramedics and the best efforts of her friends to save her, she was pronounced dead at 3.20pm
Mr Farrell said on the Sky News website: ‘She was smart, sassy and she knew people on the street because, like her mother, it seemed to be her mission in life to help those less fortunate than herself in her community.
‘She agreed to help me because she wanted people to understand why kids fell into gangs and county lines drug dealing. ‘I’ll do it – but you gotta tell it right J,’ she insisted.
‘She was phenomenal and what she helped create was an insight into a world the public never gets to see.
‘It was Azra who opened the door into that world with her empathy, charm and dogged persuasiveness.
‘Azra was unique, irreplaceable, taken in a flash.’ Sky News’s Home Editor Jason Farrell also paid tribute to Azra who helped set up interviews with county lines drug dealers.
Mr Farrell said on the Sky News website: ‘She was smart, sassy and she knew people on the street because, like her mother, it seemed to be her mission in life to help those less fortunate than herself in her community.
‘She agreed to help me because she wanted people to understand why kids fell into gangs and county lines drug dealing. ‘I’ll do it – but you gotta tell it right J,’ she insisted.
‘She was phenomenal and what she helped create was an insight into a world the public never gets to see.
‘It was Azra who opened the door into that world with her empathy, charm and dogged persuasiveness.
‘Azra was unique, irreplaceable, taken in a flash.’