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Victims of Adelaide Hills crash identified as rising martial arts athletes and good friends

Victims of Adelaide Hills crash identified as rising martial arts athletes and good friends

7NEWS05-05-2025

The Adelaide martial arts scene, friends and family are in mourning after two rising stars lost their lives in a horrific crash.
Luke Marko, 21 and Sami Adnan, 22, died when their car left the road and hit a tree on Echunga Rd, Paechtown near one of Adelaide's biggest tourism draw cards, Hahndorf.
WATCH ABOVE: Tragic car crash claims the lives of two young men in the Adelaide Hills.
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The pair were promising martial arts athletes on their way home from training when the crash happened at about 5pm on Sunday.
Sami was behind the wheel of the Holden Astra when he lost control and slammed into a gumtree, crushing the cabin. Neither of the two could be saved.
He only got his licence three weeks ago.
Friends say they both had promising careers in martial arts.
Luke was a champion jiu-jitsu fighter and Sami had recently won an interstate MMA fight.
Luke's gym coach, Daniel Marinelli, said that the talented fighter will be greatly missed by all.
'Luke will be missed dearly by his teammates, supports and his best friend Mary,' he said.
A friend of both Sam and Luke paid tribute, telling 7NEWS that he will miss his 'brothers'.
'Sami and Luke meant so much to me, they were like my brothers,' Alec burns said.
'He (Luke) was up there to be one of the best, he was very very very very good.'
Luke and Sami are the 26th and 27th people to have died on South Australian roads so far this year.
The cause of the crash is still being investigated.

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