Tributes have been paid to “brave” Matthew Blades, 37, and Tom Clough, 38, after they died in the Saturday, Aug. 22, collision

NEED TO KNOW

• Two police officers were among seven people killed in a wrong-way crash in the U.K. in the early hours of Saturday, Aug. 22
• Police had been pursuing the car, after receiving information that it had been linked to “numerous incidents,” when it began traveling the wrong way down a highway. It then collided with another police vehicle
• Tributes described officer Matthew Blades, 37, as a devoted father and soccer coach and officer Tom Clough, 38, as a “hero”

Two police officers were among seven people killed in a wrong-way crash in the U.K. over the weekend.

A car traveling in the wrong direction down the A66 highway near the town of Middlesbrough in northern England, about 250 miles north of London, collided with a marked police vehicle at 3:39 a.m. local time on Saturday, Aug. 22, according to a Cleveland Police news release.

The two officers — Matthew Blades, 37, and Tom Clough, 38 — died at the scene, along with the five occupants of the other car: Michael Cahill, 23; Jakub Matusiak, 23; Makai Saddington, 18; Theo Rae, 17; and Cole Worthy, 17, according to another police release.

According to a news release from the U.K.’s Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is investigating the crash, police had been pursuing the other car after receiving information about “numerous incidents” linked to the vehicle.

The pursuit lasted just under seven minutes, ending after the car entered the main road traveling the wrong way, with police then driving on the correct side of the road, the IOPC found.

About 10 seconds later, the car collided with another police vehicle, which had been carrying Blades and Clough. The vehicle had not been involved in the pursuit, but the officers had been in the area helping police search for it.

Chief Constable Victoria Fuller paid tribute to Blades and Clough as “brave officers, protecting our communities and serving our residents,” in the police release, describing Saturday as an “incredibly sad day for Cleveland.”

In a separate tribute, Clough’s family described him as their “hero” with a “fantastic sense of humor,” saying that he “jumped into action wherever needed” and “proudly fought for his country to make the world a better place.”

Blades’ wife said in her own tribute, “No words will ever feel like the right words to honour our Matt — my beloved husband, my best friend, and the most devoted father to our two young boys.”

“He was an adored son and brother, a perfect son-in-law, and the most fun uncle. He was loved beyond words by all his family and friends, and his loss has left a space that can never be filled,” she shared, adding, “He gave his life in the line of duty, protecting and serving others with courage, dedication and selflessness.”

“The pain of losing him is beyond words, and our lives will never be the same. Neither will the love he gave us ever fade. Our children will grow up knowing what an incredible father he was and will always be, and I will carry his love, his memory and everything we shared with me always,” the tribute included.

Local soccer club Seaton Carew FC, where Blades had recently joined as a coach, paid tribute on X, explaining that he was preparing to work with the club’s under-7s Seahawks team.

“He was looking forward to being part of the team and, most importantly, to coaching his own son, who is going to be playing for the Seahawks this season,” the team wrote. “Matty and his oldest son are much-loved members of our club and our U10 Lions football family.”

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FC Hartlepool, another local team, said Blades had coached its under-10s, too. “Matty was so much more than a coach,” the team wrote on X. “He was a role model, a mentor, a friend and someone the children looked up to and admired.”

The IOPC has obtained accounts from officers involved in the pursuit, as well as the incident log and in-car footage of the incident amid the ongoing investigation.

Cleveland Police had no additional information to add at this time when contacted by PEOPLE.

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