A man and a woman died in a crash on the A12 near Colchester yesterday, police have confirmed.

Emergency services, including two air ambulances, were called to the scene of the single vehicle crash on the northbound carriageway between Stanway and Marks Tey.

Traffic was stopped in both directions as fire crews worked to free people from the vehicle and to allow air ambulances to land.

A man and a woman were sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

Two other people who were in the vehicle sustained serious injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment.

The northbound carriageway of the A12 was shut for a total of eight hours while officers investigated the crash.

Adam Pipe, head of roads policing at Essex Police, said: “Our officers worked hard to turn vehicles around to free the traffic caught up in this incident.

“I want to thank the patience and understanding of everyone stuck in traffic.

“We need anyone who saw what happened or has any dashcam footage to contact us.”

Essex Police can be contacted on 101 and anyone with any information on the crash should quote incident 479 of November 8.