MALVERN firefighters will form a guard of honour at a joint funeral for the victims of a road accident, which claimed the life of one of their number and killed the son of another.

Retained firefighter Kevin Taylor, 28, and Mark Hitchins, also 28, both from Malvern, were killed when Mr Taylor's red Yamaha 600cc motorbike was involved in a collision with a silver Renault Clio at Hall Green on Saturday evening.

Both Mr Taylor, who was not on duty at the time of the crash, and Mr Hitchins, who was riding pillion, were pronounced dead at the scene. Mr Hitchins is the son of John Hitchins, a leading firefighter at Malvern.

The accident, at 8.10pm, was attended by Mr Taylor's colleagues from Malvern Fire Station, who also had to cut free a female front seat passenger from the wreckage of the car.

She was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital. A hospital spokesman des-cribed her condition as "comfortable" yesterday.

Mr Taylor had been a retained firefighter at Malvern since February last year and worked for Sequani in Ledbury. Mr Hitchins, a keen motorcyclist, worked as a skilled glass fibre laminator in Pershore and wanted to become a firefighter, following in his father's footsteps.

Firefighters in full uniform will line the route into St Matthias' Church, Malvern Link, on Wednesday for a joint funeral service at 2pm.

The two men's colleagues and brothers will be pallbearers.

Ian Seward, station officer at Malvern, said that both Mr Taylor and Mr Hitchins would be greatly missed.

"The station is quite solemn with people reflecting on the tragic loss of these two individual's lives, both of whom were well known and well respected," he said.

"We're a big family, that's the way we work. Malvern Fire Station is a unit within that family and we are all very close. It's a tragedy when one of our own firefighters or members of their families are affected.

"A number of firefighters have found themselves to be affected quite badly by this incident and the brigade are supporting them at this time."

Mr Seward described Mr Taylor as a quiet man, dedicated to his role as a firefighter.

"He was well liked and well respected for what he had achieved in the 18 months that he'd been providing that cover," he said.

"John Hitchins has been a part of this station for nearly 30 years so he and his family are very much part of station life and very much part of the family.

"Mark was well known and well liked by the people on the station."

The tragedy is the second to hit Malvern's firefighters in recent years. In 1998 a crash on the A449 claimed the life of 18-year-old Katie Brown, whose father and brother were serving firefighters at Malvern.

Witnesses to the incident are asked to contact Sergeant Manderhill or PC Smith on 01905 723888.

An inquest into the deaths was opened on Monday, July 15, and adjourned to a date to be fixed.