That was most unusual (the fact of the splashes rather than the incident itself), but the description of the victims as "Christmas shoppers" gave the story resonance - and the accident happened during a quiet news period.
Today the Mirror splashes on four people being killed by an out-of-control tipper lorry. The accident happened "outside a school" at going-home time and one of the dead was a young girl.
Given the timing and location, the outcome could clearly have been far worse, but the school may have been an irrelevance here. The little girl who died was apparently walking with her mother and grandmother, the other three victims were in a car crushed by the lorry when it crashed to a halt after careering down a steep hill in Bath.
The story also makes a puff for the Express and a top single on the front of the Telegraph, which reports witnesses speculating on brake failure. One "local" says the lorry hurtled down the hill with its horn blaring, and two workmen say that the driver was thrown through his windscreen.
This may sound callous, but the deaths of four people in a traffic accident are the stuff of local newspaper splashes. When did this sort of story, with no obvious broader significance, become worthy of such prominent national coverage? There may be questions to be answered in Bath about traffic management and policing, and there will be human stories to be told.
But was this really one of the most important events in the world, or even Britain, yesterday?