THREE men and a woman were seriously hurt in a crash which left all four victims badly trapped in the wreckage of the car they were in.Two fire crews from Thetford were called to the scene on the A1066 road at Shadwell near the town and officers spent two hours painstakingly working to free the injured.

THREE men and a woman were seriously hurt in a crash which left all four victims badly trapped in the wreckage of the car they were in.

Two fire crews from Thetford were called to the scene on the A1066 road at Shadwell near the town and officers spent two hours painstakingly working to free the injured.

They used specialist cutting equipment and took guidance from paramedics on the conditions of the four people trapped, a spokesman said.

The single vehicle accident, which happened at just before 11pm on Friday night, left two of the victims unconscious.

The spokesman for the fire service said when the first crew arrived the other two were conscious but seriously injured: “Officers said they were facing an extremely difficult task in maintaining access (to the car).”

However, he said that by 12.45am, the driver and three passengers had all been released from the wreckage and taken by ambulance to hospital.

Fire officers also carried out a preliminary investigation into the cause of the incident and all appliances were back at base by 2am.

The East Anglian Ambulance Service deployed two paramedic cars, three land ambulances and a senior officer to the crash.

A spokesman for Norfolk police said one of the victims had suffered serious but not life-threatening spinal and head injuries and was taken to the specialist head injuries department at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, for treatment.

The other three are believed to have been taken to West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds, with serious injuries. The police spokesman said no-one hurt in the crash was thought to have suffered life-threatening harm.