Driver dies as region hit by accidents

A man died, a woman was left fighting for her life and six others were taken to hospital in a series of accidents on roads across the West Midlands.

An elderly driver was killed and his female passenger left with life-threatening injuries after the car they were travelling in hit a tree near Kidderminster. Two off duty nurses helped give emergency first aid to the couple at the scene in Hartlebury yesterday, before they were flown by air ambulance to hospital.The road was closed for three hours.

The unnamed driver of the blue Toyota Yaris died at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, two hours after the crash, which happened around 11.30am.

His female passenger was today fighting for life at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman Claire Thomas, said: "The driver and passenger of the car, an elderly man and woman, were both in cardiac arrest. An off duty emergency medical technician from Birmingham and two off duty nurses, who had come across the accident, were trying to resuscitate both patients when crews arrived."

Road diversions were put in place and the stretch of carriageway re-opened shortly after 2.30pm.

Five teenage girls were taken to hospital after the car they were travelling in left the road and smashed into the side of a house in Birmingham, demolishing a section of wall.

Part of the wall of the house, in Ormond Road, New Frankley, collapsed following the force of the smash from the red Ford Fiesta.

Five girls, believed to be in their late teens and early 20s, were out of the car before crews arrived. One girl suffered neck pain in the crash and was immobilised with a neck collar, while the four other girls suffered minor injuries. All five were transferred to Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham.

In Wolverhampton, a woman cyclist was airlifted to hospital with head injuries after falling off her push bike.

The Midlands Air Ambulance landed in a car park in Wednesfield Road at 5.35pm yesterday after a woman was found unconscious.

The woman, believed to be in her 40s, was flown to Selly Oak Hospital.