A DRIVER has been killed after his car collided with a tree.

The man, who is understood to be in his 40s or 50s and from Essex, was declared dead at the scene of the horrific crash in Silver Street in Withersfield, near Haverhill.

Officers are desperately trying to contact his family to inform of them of the tragedy.

Police say the silver Audi had struck a tree shortly after midday.

In the aftermath of the accident, the road was closed at the junction of Horseheath Road and Skippers Lane, and the A1307 and Silver Street. It reopened around 4pm.

The tragedy comes 24 hours after a 21-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, was killed in a collision with a car as she walked along Isleham Road in Fordham, near Newmarket, at about 11.45pm on Monday.

A team from the medical charity Magpas was flown to the scene by police helicopter.

They arrived within 15 minutes and anaesthetised the woman at the roadside and continued to treat her as she was taken to hospital by land ambulance.

The woman, who was from Fordham, was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge but died a few hours later.

Police are investigating the collision, which involved a VW Scirocco car driven by a 21-year-old man, who is also from Fordham. He was not injured in the incident.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire police today said they were still trying to contact some of the woman’s next of kin.

Anybody with information about the Fordham crash should contact Cambridgeshire police on 0345 4564564.

Anyone who may have witnessed today’s collision in Withersfield should call Suffolk’s serious collision investigation team on 01473 613500.