Man dies in road smash

A man was killed and two people were critically injured as a Rover 200 car and a van crashed on the main Kidderminster to Stourport Road.

The man who died, a 23-year-old from Cookley, was a front seat passenger in the car which crashed at the traffic lights where Oldington Lane meets Minster Road.

He was trapped in the car and died as fire crews worked to free him and two doctors and paramedics gave first aid.

Five ambulances were called and ten firefighters from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service's used cutting and pneumatic equipment to free the Rover driver, a Kidderminster man, 18, and two backseat passengers, a youth and girl, both 17, of Kidderminster, who were also pinned by their legs.

The driver was today in the Alexandra Hospital and two passengers, taken to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, were said by police to be in "a critical condition".

A Kidderminster woman, 19, a rear passenger in the van, was at Worcestershire Royal Hospital for observation while a man, 23, a van front seat passenger, suffered head and eye injuries.

He was expected to be transferred to a Birmingham hospital later today for specialist treatment.

The van driver, 24, also of Kidderminster, was treated for a minor head injury.

Fire crew manager Tony Wilks, from Kidderminster Station, described the rescues as "very difficult".

Mr Alec Mackie of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It was a very difficult rescue because the car was bent like a banana in the impact."