A stray dog could be to blame for a horrific smash on the A13 which claimed the lives of three people, police said today.
The crash, near the junction with the A1089 Dock Approach Road, Grays, has taken the total number of people to die on the road to five in five days.
The accident shut the Southend-bound carriageway for more than five hours and caused major delays on the M25.
Police believe the driver of a white Ford Transit flatbed van swerved to avoid the stray dog, colliding with a blue Ford Focus with five people, four men and a woman, inside.
The Focus, with its 53-year-old driver and four elderly patients en route to Basildon Hospital, then came into contact with a blue and white 34-tonne tipper truck, leaving the five occupants trapped in the partly crushed car.
Three men - including the driver of the Focus - were taken to Basildon Hospital by ambulance with serious injuries. One later died, while another has life-threatening injuries.
The other man and woman were airlifted to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, where they later died.
The 54-year-old truck driver, from Chadwell St Mary, and 55-year-old flatbed driver, from Kent, both escaped injury.
Published Thursday December 18, 2003
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