Salma Hayek's family tragedy: The heartbreaking story of her brother's car crash which left one dead

Salma Hayek shares a very close bond with her only sibling, Sami, and recently called him "the best brother on earth".

So it was no doubt an extremely worrying time for the actress after she discovered he had been involved in a fatal car crash back in 2014.

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Sami – who has his own furniture design studio – was rushed to hospital after the car he was driving collided with a pickup truck.

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Tragically, his passenger – Grammy-award-winning art director, Ian Cuttler Sala – sustained major blunt force trauma and died from the impact of the collision at the scene.

Sami was left with several broken ribs and facial lacerations and was treated at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre. The driver of the pickup, then 20-year-old Alvin Javier Gomez, was also taken to the hospital for a broken foot and body pain.

In 2016, Sami filed papers to sue the motor company, Ford, claiming the $165,000, 2005 Ford GT sports car he was driving – which was owned by Salma and her husband, François-Henri Pinault – had a mechanical fault that caused the death of his friend.

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Salma and Sami in 2003

According to TMZ at the time, Sami claimed the car had a "catastrophic failure", in that the transaxle transferred too much power to one of the rear wheels, resulting in the car hurtling into oncoming traffic.

Sami reportedly said in the lawsuit that Ford was aware of the "need to issue a recall" because similar incidents had been reported before his crash.

At the time of the accident, Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Andrew Neiman said traffic investigators found no alcohol or drugs were involved in causing the collision.

Salma paid tribute to her brother on his birthday in May

He did admit however that Sami may have been driving too fast which could have caused him to lose control of the high-powered vehicle.

"There was a loss of control that sent him fishtailing," he said at the time. Sgt Stephanie Krajchir also told KTLA after the accident: "Too much speed on a curved roadway, tried to over-correct and unfortunately crossed into opposing lanes."

The outcome of the investigation and Sami's lawsuit against Ford doesn't appear to have been made public.

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