THREE people were taken to hospital following a serious crash on the A303 yesterday morning (Sunday).

Two were airlifted to Southmead Hospital, in Bristol, while the other was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital, in Taunton, by road ambulance.

The trust allocated the following resources to the incident at Horton Cross, near Ilminster shortly after 8am:

a rapid response vehicle;

  • two air ambulances;
  • two operations officers;
  • four road ambulances;
  • a hazardous area response team (HART).

A section of the A303 west from Horton Cross was closed into the afternoon following the head-on collision involving "multiple vehicles".

Meanwhile, an ambulance spokesman has thanked members of the public for their help during the aftermath of the crash.

A tweet said: "Big thank you to members of the public for helping today at scene of serious accident on A303 near Ilminster - attending to the injured until back-up arrived and clearing debris from road so air ambulances could land.

"These actions made a real difference to caring for patients."

The Devon and Cornwall fire service were also called to the scene, and had to cut two casualties free from the vehicles invovled.

A spokesman for the fire service said they were called to the scene shortly before 8.15am to "assist other agencies with a road traffic collision where multiple persons were believed to be trapped."

They added: "One crew from Ilminster, one crew from Chard, two crews from Taunton and the specialist rescue tender from Yeovil attended.

"On arrival the crews confirmed a road traffic collision involving two vehicles with two persons trapped.

"Crews used two sets of hydraulic cutting equipment to release one casualty from each vehicle.

"The incident was left in the hands of the police."