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A pregnant tourist and her friend died when a hit-and-run driver mowed them down on an Italian motorway as they stopped to help victims of an earlier crash.

Police in Rome named the victims as pals Jessy Dewildeman, 24, and 25-year-old Wibe Bijls, who was expecting a baby.

The pair died when a car slammed into them on the A24 motorway. It was allegedly driven by Francesco Moretti, 40, who reportedly fled the crash site on foot leaving the young women to die.

The friends had got out of a car at the motorway’s Tor Cervara junction to help another motorist who had been rear-ended in a shunt on 8th August.

Wibe’s brother – unnamed in local media – reportedly told la Repubblica newspaper that she had been 16 weeks pregnant.

Jessy worked as a waitress and Wibe was a chef in a restaurant in Menen, in the Belgian province of West Flanders.

Wibe’s brother said their mother had died of cancer seven years ago and their father died in an accident last year.

He reportedly said: “She was in the sixteenth week. She was willing to help even those she didn’t know: that says a lot about Wibe’s character.”

Tragically, the pair had taken the dream trip to Italy after a client at Jessy’s restaurant had given them the holiday.

They were hit full-on by the car driven by Moretti, according to local media.

The emergency services arrived on the scene shortly thereafter but the two victims died of their injuries.

Moretti was traced and later arrested by police, according to local media.

Jessy’s mother – Evelyne Derumeaux, 50, – told Belgian media: “Normally, Jessy would return today from her trip to Rome. Instead, I may have to go there to identify her body.”

She added: “Hopefully one day we will find out the truth.”

The investigation is ongoing.

(T4/ends)