A64 death crash

The woman was a passenger in a silver BMW travelling westbound on the A64 between York and Tadcaster, near Bilbrough Top, at 12.15pm yesterday, when the car left the road close to the A162 turn-off.

The car hit a tree and both the woman and the male driver had to be cut free from the car by firefighters. They were airlifted to York Hospital, where the woman later died from her injuries.

The fire engine travelling to the crash, from Clifford Street Fire Station in York, was involved in a collision with a white Nissan Micra, in Tadcaster Road, York, at about 12.25pm.

The fire engine was heading out of the city and overtaking a line of traffic when it was in collision with the Nissan, which is believed to have been turning off Tadcaster Road in to Ainsty Grove, opposite the Marriott Hotel.

The male driver and a female passenger were taken by ambulance to York Hospital, after being cut out of their vehicle by the crew whose engine was involved in the collision. The fire service has launched an investigation. The road was closed for two hours after the incident.

Graham Buckle, the fire service's area manager for York, said the engine was overtaking a line of stationary traffic, made up mainly of motorcaravans leaving a motorcaravan rally at York Racecourse.

John Cockerill, who was at the Marriott Hotel organising a conference, was one of the people who ran outside to help. "It was a pretty messy accident and it was quite ironic really that it was the same firemen involved in the crash that were helping to cut them out. I suppose at least they were the right people to have on hand."

In a separate incident, one man died after the car he was driving was involved in a head-on collision with a lorry at about noon yesterday on the A1079, near Market Weighton.

The driver of the car was pronounced dead at the scene and the HGV driver was treated at the scene for shock. The road was closed for six hours.

Updated: 10:52 Tuesday, September 20, 2005