EXCLUSIVE Pictured: Miriam Posen killed in horror France crashes as her rabbi husband ‘comes out of intensive care’
A British mother of ten who died in a horror crash in northern France has been photographed for the first time today.
Miriam Posen was traveling with six of her relatives when they were involved in a three-vehicle accident on a highway south of Lens.
Her husband and two of her children are reportedly recovering ‘well’ after the accident that also killed a 75-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man.
Ms Posen, a member of the Orthodox Jewish community from Stamford Hill, north London, was driving a van at the start of a holiday when the tragedy unfolded.
The photo of 50-year-old Ms Posen, posing with her eldest son Izzy, was taken in 2017 before he became estranged from his family after breaking away from the closed world of ultra-Orthodox Judaism to study English and earn a degree in in physics and philosophy from the University of Bristol.
He captioned it: ‘With my beautiful mother’.
Mother of 10 Miriam Posen, who died tragically in a car accident in France, has been photographed for the first time with her eldest son Izzy
The horror smash took place on a highway south of Lens around 6pm on Sunday
Ms Posen was in France with her husband and some of her ten children, the family spokesman said.
Ms. Posen was an ultra-Orthodox Jew who spoke only Yiddish and followed a strict dress code.
On Monday, Izzy wrote on social media: “My mother sadly passed away yesterday in tragic circumstances.
She was young and healthy and full of life. I loved her so much.’
His post was greeted with an outpouring of friends expressing sympathy and wishing his injured father and siblings well.
Friends and family of Ms Posen have yet to come to terms with her death, which has shocked the Jewish community around her home.
A neighbor said, ‘We really can’t believe Miriam is gone. She was devoted to her children. It’s all so shocking.’
A family spokesperson said yesterday: ‘Miriam was a devoted mother who was so loved by her family and friends. She was a very special person who will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
“We are still processing what happened. It was only on Sunday night.’
Meanwhile, the rest of the family involved in the horror crash is now “out of danger,” as it turned out today.
Shalom Pinchos Posen, Ms Posen’s husband, and five other members of the family are “prospering,” a local emergency services source said.
“All were traveling in a minibus when the accident happened, and three were rushed to intensive care,” the source said.
“Some of these lives were initially thought to be in danger, but that’s no longer the case — they’re all out of intensive care.”
The Briton most seriously injured, besides Ms Posen, was her 19-year-old daughter, who was still in hospital in Cambrai on Tuesday.
Another 16-year-old woman and Mr Posen were also initially in intensive care, while three children aged 13, 11 and 8 had injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
Emergency services Sunday evening at the scene of the accident
There were four people in a second vehicle, including an unidentified 75-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man, both of whom died of cardiac arrest.
The other two passengers in the second car – a 14-year-old boy and a 79-year-old man – remain in hospital in Lille after being transported there by helicopter.
The emergency services source said the teenager “remained in critical condition.”
A third car involved was driven by a woman in her 30s, but she sustained only minor injuries, along with three children aged six, eight and nine.
A spokesman for the Arras public prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the crash, said alcohol and toxicology tests had been carried out, without disclosing any results.
He said it was “much too early” to say exactly what caused the accident and that “numerous witnesses” were spoken to.
The accident happened around 6 p.m. on Sunday in good light, when the driver of one of the vehicles is believed to have lost control and entered the other lane, colliding head-on with another vehicle.
French regional prefect Jacques Billant said witnesses to the horrific crash were “offered psychological help.”
The section of the A26 motorway was closed late into the night on Saturday as six emergency medical services were on site.
About 60 firefighters were also sent to the crash site to try to save the victims.
The incident took place at the height of the holiday season, as thousands of British drivers were crossing the Channel.
An FCDO spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We are in contact with local authorities following a road accident in France and have offered our assistance to the family.’