Family hurt as car leaves icy road near Craven Arms

A woman was seriously injured and her two children and husband were hurt when their car left an icy Shropshire road and ended on its side down an embankment.

Rescue workers cut off the car roof to reach the husband and wife, who were airlifted to hospital after the crash on the A49 near Craven Arms.

The woman's condition was described as critical but stable.

A boy, 10, and a 12-year-old girl freed themselves before help arrived at about 8.30am yesterday.

Claire Thomas, spokeswoman for West Midlands Ambulance Service, described conditions as "treacherously icy".

She said: "The woman, believed to be 46, suffered a significant chest injury, head and abdominal injuries and was in a lot of pain. The man, believed to be 47, sustained pain in his lower leg and hip."

The woman was flown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for further emergency treatment.

Her husband was airlifted to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the children went to the same hospital.

Elsewhere in the county a mother and her teenage daughter were taken to the RSH and a horse was killed when it was in collision with a van on the A41 at Higher Heath, near Whitchurch, at about 1.45pm on Saturday.

The woman in her 40s and her daughter suffered neck and back pain when their car collided with another car behind the initial crash.

A car ended on its roof in a brook and one person was taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with minor injuries on Saturday after a car left the road near Newtown, off the B4568.

Icy weather also caused a car to leave the B5476 road at The Whym, Wem, yesterday, ending ­in a hedge.

No-one was injured.