A WOMAN who died in a car crash at the start of her African holiday was not wearing a seatbelt, an inquest heard.

Sally Fleck, 40, who ran Coombe Farm at Sutton Valence, near Maidstone, with her husband Tony, was thrown out of the VW Chicco she was driving as it overturned on a gravel road in Namibia.

The inquest at Maidstone heard that she suffered a severed spinal chord, killing her instantly. Mr Fleck, 57, survived the crash despite severing an artery as he dragged himself from the car.

In a statement to Namibian police, read at the inquest, he said that he had been watching the countryside when suddenly the car swerved, overturned several times, and landed on its roof.

He found his wife lying about 15 metres from the vehicle and realised she was dead. "I was wearing a seatbelt, my wife was not," he said.

Mr Fleck was rescued by a passing English doctor and a group of Germans. The accident happened on Sunday, January 11, near Maltahohe.

Mrs Fleck, of Church View, Biddenden, grew up in Zimbabwe and the couple had spent previous holidays in Africa. Her husband and relatives did not attend the hearing.

The cause of death was given as multiple injuries. Verdict: accidental death.