PARENTS' HEARTBREAK LETTER FROM CRASH VICTIM AMBER; Note arrives two

THE heartbroken parents of a British teenager killed in a car crash in Africa faced new agony yesterday - when a letter arrived from their daughter written two days before she died.

The note penned by Amber Montgomery landed on her grieving parents' doorstep 48 hours after the tragic accident which killed her.

It told how she was "having the time of her life" in Malawi, describing her friendship with Arabella McDonald and Kate Morgan, who also died, and Lizzi Ryan - the only survivor.

Amber's father David, a retired Army Brigadier, said at his home near Sandwich, Kent, yesterday: "We were devastated to receive the letter. But we will always treasure it."

He added: "The letter is a classic 18-year-old girl's letter to her parents . She told us she was having such an adventure and the girls she was with had all become close friends.

"I have spoken to the other girls' parents and we are all comforting each other."

Amber had been a pupil at Benenden public school in Cranbrook, Kent.

She and her three friends, Arabella, 19, Kate, 18 and Lizzi, also 18, were in Africa to teach during their gap-year when the accident happened last Thursday. Three of the girls died when the Toyota Landcruiser they were travelling in overturned 80 miles south of the capital, Lilongwe.

Survivor Lizzi was yesterday being treated for pelvic injuries in a clinic at the British High Commission in Malawi.

She told doctors: "I can't believe they are dead. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up any minute and they will still be here.

"All I can remember is the car skidding and we all shouted and screamed, then the next thing I was in an ambulance."

Her comments were passed on to her parents, David and Joan Ryan, at their home near Taunton, Somerset, by the High Commission. Mr Ryan, an ex-Royal Navy submarine commander, said: "We haven't managed to speak to Lizzi ourselves yet.

"It will be difficult for her because on the one hand she is relieved she has survived and at the same time she is grieving for her friends."

He added: "My daughter met the other girls for the first time when they all turned up at Heathrow in January to fly to Malawi. I pray for the families of all of them. This really is a dreadful tragedy."

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