A NEWLY wed amateur footballer and his friend have died after their high-powered Mercedes span out of control and hit a tree.

Devastated team-mates have now cancelled all football matches in the Blackburn league where Ifan Ahmed Musa and Suhel Congress played as a mark of respect.

The crash, as the men travelled towards Blackburn on the A59 at Samlesbury, came on a weekend when five people lost their lives on East Lancashire's roads.

Three people from the same family died in a crash on the A675 near Belmont.

Ifan, 24, was married on July 31, and died just days after returning from honeymoon with his wife, Zainab, 23.

The smash, which also claimed the life of his friend and fellow footballer Suhel Congress, 20, has now prompted renewed calls for safety measures on the A59.

Saturday's crash, which happened on the Blackburn-bound duel carriageway between the M6 junction and the Swallow Hotel, is the second multiple fatal accident at the same spot in nine months.

Police have said speed was a factor in both crashes.

The two men, from the Shear Brow area of Blackburn, were returning home from seeing friends in Preston in their Mercedes 500 two-seater convertible sports car when the accident happened,just before 5pm.

It's thought Ifan lost control of the car on a left hand bend going uphill before the car hit a lamp-post and collided with a tree.

Both men were killed instantly and were pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

The family of Ifan, of St James Place, today paid tribute to him. A family member said: "We are totally devastated by his death. In fact we are devastated for both families.

"He was with his friend when he died. He was an outgoing lad with a large group of friends. He was coming back from seeing friends in Preston when it happened."

A friend of the family, who asked not to be named, revealed how Ifan had only been married to Zainab, from Preston, for a matter of days.

He said: "His friends and family are absolutely shocked by this. He was only married for a couple of weeks so it makes what's happened doubly tragic.

"They must have only been back from their honeymoon for a couple of days. He was a keen footballer who was liked by everyone."

Ifan helped organise football teams in the Asian community. He was manager of AC Milham, a Blackburn seven-a-side team that plays in the Blackburn Community midweek seven-a-side league at Witton Park. Suhel, of Shear Brow, also played football in the same league.

Suhel's sister Ruhina Congress, 18, said: "He was a fun-loving, cheerful, happy boy, without a bad word to say about anybody. He was a wonderful brother and loved his family.Him and Ifan were really close and always together. Where one went the other would follow."

League secretary Ismail Esat said all matches in the 54-team league had been suspended this week as a mark of respect. He added: "Ifan was a superb lad and it's a great loss.

"He was a good footballer and was always helping organise community football teams. I've known him since he was 11-years-old when he was part of Blackburn's first ever Asian seven-a-side team.

"I will now be telling the young lads to just take it easy when the get behind the wheel. Some of them can get carried away when they're driving with their mates, so I just want them to learn from this."

A police spokesman said: "It would appear that high speed had been involved in this tragic accident."

Police have previously ruled out safety improvements on the road.

But Nigel Evans, Ribble Valley MP said: "Clearly the police and highway engineers need to look at the stretch of road as a matter of urgency to see how they can make the road safer."

Anyone with information about the accident should contact Lancashire police on 01772 433561.