Double death after speedboat chase

TWO people have died and two others are badly hurt after a collision between a Gibraltar Police patrol boat and a high powered speedboat that it was chasing near The Rock. Both the fatalities were on the smaller vessel which had four passengers, a Portuguese national and three men, said to be North Africans from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. A police spokesman said that crafts such as the one they were chasing were commonly used for smuggling both drugs and people and a full investigation was underway. The stricken vessel had four 300 hp engines and sophisticated radar equipment according to the police. The injured passengers are in a hospital on Gibraltar under police custody and have been provisionally charged with dangerous navigation, smuggling and obstruction.