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A driver behind the wheel when his 4x4 flipped killing two Kent school boys will not be charged after he also later died from his injuries in hospital.
An inquest into the death of Cranbook teenager Freddie McLennan who died while on holiday in Bolivia heard the likely cause of the fatal crash was Luis Alberto Barco hitting a pot hole at speed.
Freddie, 19, had just left Cranbrook School and was due to join Leeds University to study economics and politics the following September.
At a hearing at Maidstone's County Hall, coroner Alan Blunsden read evidence obtained from the Bolivian police that Freddie was travelling in a Toyota Landcruiser supplied by a tourism company and being driven by tour guide Barco when an accident happened.
The vehicle flipped over while travelling on the salt flats at Salar de Uyuni about 25km from the city of Uyuni.
Freddie, from Goudhurst Road, was one of six passengers in the vehicle.
Both he and a fellow former Cranbrook School student George (known as Joe) Atkins died at the scene.
The four other passengers and the driver were all injured and taken to hospital in Uyuni.
No other vehicles were involved in the crash which happened at around 5pm on June 9, 2019.
The Bolivian police suggested the likely cause of the crash was that Barco lost control after hitting a pot-hole at speed.
The vehicle travelled a further 60 metres along the salt flats after the initial point of impact.
Mr Blunsden explained that the delay in holding the inquest was partly due to the fact that the Bolivian police were considering charging the driver with an offence, but in fact he never recovered from his injuries and died in hospital.
Following the accident, there had been some suggestions that Mr Barco had not held a valid driver's licence, but this was not mentioned in the police report.
A post-mortem gave the cause of Freddie's death as a severe injury to the brain.
Mr Blundsen also read a report from Freddie's GP, Dr David Hindmarsh at the Crane Surgery in Cranbrook, which confirmed that Freddie had no underlying health issues that might in any way have contributed to his death.
The coroner concluded the death was the result of a road traffic accident.
He said: "This was a tragic death of a young man touring South America in what should have been a very happy time for him."
Freddie's family did not attend the inquest but had previously described him as "fun-loving, charming and with a caring nature."
They had said: "He was thoroughly enjoying his opportunity to travel and explore Latin America and was working at improving his Spanish."
The headmaster of Cranbrook School, Dr John Weeds, said Freddie had been a "true leader and a scholar in the making."
For more information on how we can report on inquests, click here.
