A WOMAN was airlifted to a specialist hospital after being found injured following an incident on a bridge above a busy main road.

Police officers and paramedics were called to the A12 near Stanway at about 2.40pm on Sunday after concerns were raised for the safety of a woman on a bridge.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing military police also at the scene while an Essex & Herts Air Ambulance also landed near to the road’s Junction 26 turn-off.

After arriving at the incident, the emergency services established a woman had been injured and provisions were immediately put in place to bring motorists to a halt.

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “Two ambulances, a rapid response vehicle and the air ambulance were sent to the bridge on the A12.

“The patient was taken by air ambulance to Addenbrookes Hospital for treatment.”

While the emergency services dealt with the incident, incident traffic travelling in both directions came to a standstill.

Drivers on the southbound carriageway found themselves in four miles of congestion while lengthy queues on the northbound carriageway measured three miles.

By roughly 4pm, however, the road was reopened but up to four miles worth of congestion on the southbound carriageway remained.