A driver who was freed from his burning car after colliding with a tree in Suffolk remains in a “critical condition”, police said.

The motorist, a man in his 40s, suffered potentially life-threatening injuries after his blue Dacia Sandero left the road in Elmswell – a village between Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket – at around 4.55pm yesterday.

Members of the public stopped to free the driver from his burning car, which had hit a tree in Ashfield Road, around 170 yards after the Norton Road junction, heading towards the village.

Ambulance and fire crews also attended and the driver was airlifted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “Two ambulance officers, an ambulance and the East Anglian Air Ambulance attended the scene. One patient was flown to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in a serious condition.”

He was said to have suffered potentially life-threatening or life-changing injuries.

Suffolk police said this afternoon that the driver remains in a critical condition.

The road was closed until just after 10.30pm while a collision investigation took place.

Officers are appealing for any witnesses, or anyone who may have seen a car matching the description before the crash, to contact the Bury St Edmunds Roads Policing and Firearms Operations Team on 101 quoting reference CAD 271 of May 10. Officers are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have dash cam footage.