The Independent/London
Two young brothers and a woman died when the car they were travelling in crashed on the busy M6 motorway, marking a black Christmas Day on Britain’s roads, where there were five fatalities and a number of serious injuries.
The two boys, aged four and 10, and the 32-year-old woman were confirmed dead by paramedics at the scene after the single-vehicle collision, which happened just before midday.
Two other women travelling in the same car - one of whom is the children’s mother, who was driving the car - were taken to hospital, where their conditions are stable and not believed to be life-threatening.
In an earlier incident, a husband and wife died and their son suffered serious injuries while driving on the B3349 near Basingstoke in Hampshire.
The cause of the tragedy on the M6 is not known. It happened on the northbound carriageway between junctions 14 and 15 between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent, resulting in the motorway being closed in both directions and causing long tailbacks.
The vehicle, a red Ford Focus, overturned in the collision and was taken away by crash investigators.
Despite recent days of heavy rain, conditions when the accident occurred at 11.25am were said to be fine and dry, according to the Highways Agency.
Two air ambulances and three emergency vehicles attended the scene, but a spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said paramedics and a doctor had been unable to save the two boys and the woman.
“All emergency services personnel worked seamlessly together at the scene in exceptionally difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, the outcome was not the one everyone would have hoped for,” he said.
The couple who died in the crash near Basingstoke were believed to be passengers while their son, who is aged in his 20s and was driving, suffered serious chest injuries. Their silver vehicle is reported to have hit a tree.
Hampshire Police are appealing for witnesses. Police in Suffolk also confirmed last night that a 23-year-old man involved in an accident on the A14 on Christmas Eve has died.
He was fatally injured when four vehicles crashed into three horses running loose on the carriageway at Sproughton, near Ipswich, at 10.20pm. A 26-year-old Ipswich man has been arrested on suspicion of causing danger to road users. The three animals were also killed.
Before the fatal accident on the M6, a man in his mid-20s suffered multiple injuries and his vehicle was torn into three pieces following a collision on the same motorway, between junctions 5 and 6 on the eastbound toll road at around 3.35am.
The driver, who was not badly hurt, was also taken to University Hospital North Staffordshire after his car smashed into road signs and a bridge.