A woman died and six people were injured in a weekend of carnage on the roads.

Police and air ambulance helicopters rushed to the Faringdon scene, along with 999 services from two counties, after a transit van and car collided head-on near Faringdon on the A420.

The woman driver of the car was certified dead at the scene, but firemen took about 45 minutes to cut free four others trapped in the wreckage of both vehicles. Two passengers, a 57-year-old man, with serious multiple injuries, and a 20-year-old man, with multiple fractures, were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. A front-seat female passenger was airlifted to the Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon, and a male passenger was taken by ambulance. Both had serious injuries.

The driver of the van, who suffered serious head and face injuries, and his front seat passenger, who had multiple injuries, were taken to the same hospital. Dave Hogg, of Oxfordshire Ambulance Service, said: "It was a massive operation. The vehicles were extremely badly damaged and only one person was not trapped. It was a pretty horrendous scene. Under great pressure all the emergency services worked well together to do what they could."

The accident happened just after 3pm yesterday about 100 yards from The Plough Inn, at Great Coxwell. The road was blocked for several hours.

Mr Hogg added: "While dealing with this serious accident, there was a high demand of 999 calls throughout the county. None of the calls turned out to be as serious." Elsewhere, an 18-year-old woman, who was not wearing a seat-belt, was thrown through the windscreen of her car when it hit a wall in The Portway, Wantage, on Saturday morning.

A 27-year-old motorcyclist hit the Hithercroft roundabout in Wallingford that afternoon. Both suffered serious injuries and were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Story date: Monday 08 November

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