A woman was flung from a car into roadside trees in a horrific crash in the Oxfordshire countryside.

She was discovered by emergency services badly injured and lying on the ground beside the A4074 Oxford to Henley road, near Berinsfield, after the two-car collision shortly after 6pm on Saturday.

Items of her clothing caught in the trees led rescue services to the spot where she was found, having fallen from the tree into which she was thrown by the force of the crash.

The woman, believed to be aged around 40, was the first of six people taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She was one of four victims of the accident airlifted by the Thames Valley Police helicopter.

The others were the driver of the silver BMW she had been a passenger in, a man thought to be in his late 40s, a 16-year-old girl who was one of two teenage girl passengers in the car, and the driver of a silver Rover 75, thought to be in his late 30s, who was turning right into a single-track road to nearby Burcot when the collision occurred.

A second teenage girl passenger from the BMW was taken by ambulance to Oxford, along with an 11-year-old boy who was a passenger in the Rover. He was later released after treatment.

Thames Valley police said yesterday that all the remaining casualties were still in hospital - one of them, believed to be the woman flung from the BMW, with life-threatening injuries.

The road was closed between the Golden Balls roundabout and the Berinsfield roundabout for almost seven hours.

About 21 firefighters from Abingdon were also called to make the badly damaged vehicles safe.

Investigating officer Pc Lucy Creed asked for any witnesses to call her on 08458 505505.

A major crossing of the River Thames had to be closed for more than an hour on Saturday after a collision involving three vehicles.

The A415 road to Culham was blocked off by police in Abingdon after the incident in The Causeway.

A red Nissan Micra, being driven by an elderly man towards Abingdon, is believed to have veered across the road , colliding with a minibus and an articulated lorry.

The driver of the minibus was treated at the scene for minor injuries and the Nissan driver was taken to hospital for a check-up.