Two women airlifted after A49 crash

Two women were airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after a crash which left one car on its roof and another hanging over a roadside drop.

A woman in her 70s suffered serious multiple injuries and was trapped in her car for over an hour following the accident near Wem.

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She was cut free by firefighters who removed the roof of her car as it rested 'precariously' on a 4ft high wall.

The two-car smash happened on the A49 near Preston Brockhurst, at the turning for Grinshill, at about 11.40am yesterday.

It happened a week after 25-year-old Keiran Moore-Hughes, from Shrewsbury, was killed in a collision with an ambulance on the same stretch of road. Two air ambulances and a land ambulance were called to the scene yesterday.

A woman in her 60s was pulled from her overturned car by passers-by and was flown to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with shoulder and rib pain.

Claire Thomas, West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman, said: "Two cars had been involved in a significant collision which left one vehicle overturned and the other in a precarious position partially overhanging a drop at the side of the road.

"A woman in her 70s was trapped for over an hour. Once extricated, the woman was immobilised and airlifted to University Hospital of North Staffordshire for further emergency treatment. The woman was said to be in a critical condition."

The road was closed for more than five hours between the B5063 junction and Sandy Lane as accident investigation work was carried out.

Fire crews from Wem, Prees and Wellington and a fire officer from Shrewsbury were also called to the scene.

Steve Purslow, from Shropshire Fire and Rescue, said: "We were faced with a road traffic collision involving two saloon cars, one of which was on its roof.

"Another car was resting up against a 4ft high sandstone wall and there was a person trapped inside."