Two people were seriously injured and both had to be cut out of their separate vehicles after they collided on the A351 Valley Road at Harman’s Cross near Swanage in Dorset – with one being airlifted to hospital.
Emergency services were first alerted just before 10 am on Tuesday 25th July 2023 to the two vehicle road traffic collision, that happened near to the junction with the North Instow road.
Emergency services arrive at the scene of the vehicle collision
Hydraulic cutting equipment
Arriving at the scene, the South Western Ambulance paramedics called for assistance from Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (HEMS).
Crews from Swanage, Wareham and Poole arrived with hydraulic cutting equipment to remove the roofs of the vehicles in order to get the people out safely.
Valley Road, which has a speed limit of 30 mph, was closed to all traffic
After the people had been taken to hospital, the police stayed at the scene while the vehicles were recovered. It’s not believed that the bus was one of the vehicles in the collision
“We wish both persons a very speedy recovery”
Swanage Fire Station reported:
“This morning we attended a two vehicle road traffic collision along with pumps from Wareham and Poole.
“Two casualties, one in each vehicle, were removed using cutting equipment while working with crews from South West Ambulance Service and HEMS. One casualty was then transported to hospital by air ambulance and the other by road.
“We wish both persons a very speedy recovery.”
The air ambulance arrives and departs from a nearby field
Transported to hospital by air ambulance
The air ambulance landed in a field next to Valley Road at the junction with Quarr Farm Road and was captured on film by nearby resident Lorraine West, who heard the sound of the helicopter and waved the crew towards the open field.
At 12 noon the air ambulance took off from the field with one of the injured people on board and headed to Southampton General Hospital.
Valley Road was closed for about two hours with long queues of traffic backing up through Langton Matravers and Corfe Castle.
Watch the landing and takeoff of the air ambulance
Further information
- More about the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, which is entirely fuinded by donations, is on its website
