Update: The lead investigator has backtracked on comments that the Viola Beach crash was “deliberate”.

Responding to reports in UK newspapers which followed up Swedish media reports, Lars Berglund said the driver “may not have seen the crash barrier”.

He told the Liverpool Echo: “There is no suggestion that it was intended to kill himself or the band. I think the driver’s only intention was to avoid a crash.

“Maybe he had not discovered the barriers in front of those cars standing still. His speed may have been too high for stopping.

“I have not suggested that [the driver] was doing this in order to kill himself or the band. I said he was making a move from the right lane to the left lane and that was not accidental.

“We can see the brake lights. His intention was to stop the car. But maybe his speed was too high and it was too late.”

Swedish police believe the car crash that killed all four members of British band Viola Beach may have been deliberate.

The band and their manager died when their hire car plunged off a bridge and into a canal in Södertälje on February 13.

As the Guardian reports, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet said it had seen CCTV footage which showed the band’s Nissan Qashqai coming to a stop behind other cars waiting at a barrier, which was in place because of a raised bridge ahead. The Nissan then accelerated past two others and crashed through the barrier, plunging 30 metres into the water.

The warning lights and barriers were clearly visible and the rented car had no apparent faults, according to Lars Berglund, a police officer investigating the case.

“We can’t find any secondary explanation,” he told the newspaper. “It looked like the driver acted deliberately.”

Kris Leonard, River Reeves, Tomas Lowe, Jack Dakin and manager Craig Tarry were on their way back to an airport hotel after playing a festival. Police have not revealed who was driving the car, but preliminary results show the driver had no trace of alcohol or drugs in his blood.

Aftonbladet also spoke to a man whose car was closest to the barrier, who said the driver of the Nissan pulled past him on the left like “a maniac”, almost hitting his car.

“All I heard then inside the car was a muffled bang. It was hard to understand what had happened, it was all so surreal,” he is quoted as saying.