A MAN was killed and another left seriously injured after a horrific four vehicle crash on the A120 near Harwich last night.The accident, the first fatal crash in Essex of 2004, happened at around 6.

A MAN was killed and another left seriously injured after a horrific four vehicle crash on the A120 near Harwich last night.

The accident, the first fatal crash in Essex of 2004, happened at around 6.45pm when a white lorry and a blue Ford Escort were involved in a head-on collision at the junction of Primrose Lane and Tinker Street, between the villages of Ramsey and Wix.

The blue Escort, which had been heading towards Colchester, was shunted around 50 yards back down the road after the collision.

As a result of the impact the lorry swerved across the carriageway where it hit another vehicle head-on, a blue coloured van carrying two ladders on its roof.

The ladders smashed through the windscreen of the lorry driver's compartment but luckily he escaped with only minor injuries, as did the two men travelling in the van.

The lorry, which had been travelling towards Harwich, ended up ploughing into a verge on the opposite side of the carriageway.

Meanwhile the driver of a silver Toyota, which had swerved to avoid the Escort, lost control of the vehicle which left the road and came to a halt badly damaged in a ditch.

The seriously injured man was cut free by rescue workers and also taken to Colchester General. Hopsital.

However, the driver of the blue Escort, a local man, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Last night police appealed for witnesses to the crash.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "Anybody with any information is asked to come forward.

"We would also like to hear from anybody who was travelling from Harwich Port in the direction of Colchester in the minutes prior to the accident."

The road was closed in both directions in the aftermath of the crash and the Essex Police helicopter was mobilised to take aerial photographs to help in the inquiry.

In September 2002 the EADT launched its campaign for improvements for the A120, after a string of serious and fatal accidents on the single-carriageway stretch between Little Bromley and Harwich.

Speaking at the scene of last night's crash, local traffic officer of 10 years experience Pc Dave Williams, of Stanway Road Policing Unit, said: "This is one of the most horrendous crashes I have ever encountered on this road."

Anybody with any information about the crash is asked to phone police on 01206 762512.