Second girl in Oldham New Year's Eve hit-and-run dies

The second girl knocked down in a hit-and-run on New Year's Eve has died, following the death of her cousin in the same collision.

Zaneta Krokova, 11, had been critically ill in hospital after she and 12-year-old Helena Kotlarova were hit by a Peugeot 807 in Oldham, Greater Manchester Police said.

The pair were holding hands and crossing the road as the car struck them at around 7.15pm.

Helena died at the scene.

It was initially thought that a black VW Golf had been involved.

That car has since been traced and the driver spoken to, police said, and inquiries have now established the Peugeot was involved in the initial collision.

The Peugeot was abandoned about half a mile from where the collision happened in Ashton Road, near the junction with Copster Hill Road.

One of the five men arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous has been de-arrested, police said, but the 23-year-old is assisting officers.

The men who remain in custody are aged 59, 48, 38 and 18.

Pictures of the recovered Peugeot 807 have been issued to jog the memory of anyone who may have seen the vehicle before or after the collision, along with a CCTV image of a white Citroen Despatch that was seen in the area at the time.

Sergeant Lee Westhead said: "The Peugeot is very distinctive and I am releasing pictures of the vehicle in an attempt to establish its movements on 31 December.

"I am also keen to speak to the occupants of a white Citroen Despatch van."

On New Year's Day, Helena's 19-year-old sister Sylva told how the family, who came to the UK from the Czech Republic several years ago, rushed to the scene 100 yards from their home seconds after the crash.

She said: "Her face was all bloody. She did not breathe. Mum was touching her hair."

Miss Kotlarova said the girls were with a larger group of family and friends who had already crossed Ashton Road, one of the main routes into Oldham.

She added: "But as they came to the other side of the road the car ran them over. They were holding hands."

She said emergency services told her there was nothing they could do.

"She was too young to die. She was beautiful. She loved dancing and singing. She was a young lady who loved life," she said.