Serious accident near Devizes

Two people died and another two were seriously injured in a crash in Rowde near Devizes. The incident, involving one vehicle, happened on the A342 near the entrance to Rowdeford School at about 0130 GMT, police said. One person was pronounced dead at the scene and an 18-year-old man was later pronounced dead at hospital. A 16-year-old boy has been taken to Frenchay Hospital, near Bristol, with life-threatening head injuries.

The driver, a 20-year-old man, was taken to Great Western Hospital, in Swindon, complaining of chest pain. Police said the A342 at Rowde was likely to remain closed until the mid-morning. A spokesman for Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) said there had been five people in the car, all thought to be in their late teens or early 20s.

He said: "One of our crews actually came across the incident just after 1am. It was immediately obvious it was a very serious incident. "They notified our control room to request back-up and began assessing patients. They had to smash the car windows to start providing essential life-saving treatment while back-up was en route. A rapid-response vehicle, two ambulance crews, A BASICS doctor, the air ambulance and a GWAS on-call officer were sent to the scene. The air ambulance took off three times to ferry the victims to hospital as they were freed from the wreckage.

It is believed the 20-year-old driver had been to pick up a member of his family and friends from a night out. Dr Adam Brownhill of Swift Medics, a group of volunteer doctors who attend emergencies like this, said Dr Jonathan Glover from Marlborough attended the accident with the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and accompanied one of the victims to Frenchay Hospital after anaethatising him at scene so as to stabilise his injuries.

"It was a nasty, nasty accident," said Dr Brownhill.

Dr Glover said it was one of the worst incidents he had ever been called to. He said: "This was an horrific, tragic accident."Our crews on scene were in regular contact with receiving hospitals, who had trauma teams standing by to receive patients as they were flown in." Dr Glover also commented on the teamwork and professionalism of the ambulance and air-ambulance paramedics at the scene stating "this incident whilst horrific did demonstrate the value of the muti-disciplinary team who responded and relied upon the professionalism of all involved." 

GWAS on-call officer Jeff Nash said: "This was clearly a very serious incident with a tragic outcome. "However, our crews, working with the BASICS doctor and other emergency services on scene, did everything they could to give the patients the best possible chance."