A5 driver killed and pedestrians seriously injured in two Shropshire crashes
A man was killed in a crash on the A5 before two pedestrians were seriously injured when they were hit by a van on the diversion route.
The man died following a crash between the car he was driving and a lorry near Oswestry shortly after 12.30am on Wednesday, leading to a busy stretch of the main road being closed for around 10 hours.
And as traffic was being diverted off the A5 and through Gobowen around nine hours later, two pedestrians were hit by a van less than a mile away from where the man died.
The pedestrians, a man and a woman aged in their 70s, were both seriously injured and airlifted to hospital in Stoke after initially being cared for by passers-by at the scene on the B5069 St Martins Road.
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Two air ambulances and two land ambulances were sent to the crash, which happened on St Martins Road at the junction with West Place at around 9.30am.
As a result the road, which leads from the A5 up to Gobowen railway station and onto St Martins, was shut in both directions from the roundabout near the Orthopaedic Hospital to the junction with Fernhill Lane until mid afternoon.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “Crews arrived to find two pedestrians, a man and a woman, who were being cared for by passers-by following a reported collision with a van.
"Ambulance staff assessed both patients and discovered they had sustained serious injuries.
"The man and the woman received advanced trauma care from the team of ambulance staff at the roadside before both pedestrians were airlifted to Royal Stoke University Hospital for further trauma care.
“The van driver didn’t require hospital treatment.”
Fatality
The male driver, who was the only person in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene between the Gobowen and Gledrid roundabouts after the crash happened at around 12.30am.
The vehicles caught fire following the crash and the driver had to be cut free by firefighters who were sent from Oswestry and Wellington.
Crews used hose-reel jets to tackle the blaze and cutters and spreaders to free the trapped man, but nothing could be done to save him.
A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “On arrival, crews discovered a car and a lorry that had been in collision.
“There was one sole occupant in the car, a man. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent nothing could be done to save him and he was confirmed dead at the scene.
“The lorry driver was uninjured in the incident.”
The A5 was closed between Gledrid and the Orthopaedic Hospital roundabout until around 10.30am as a result, with traffic diverted through Gobowen and St Martins, and it was less than an hour before the road was reopened that the second crash happened.
West Mercia Police has appealed for anybody who witnessed either crash to come forward.
Anyone with information should contact police on 101.
