Major accident closes A19

One person was taken to hospital with serious injuries after a road accident which completely closed the southbound A19 last night.

The carriageway was closed from the junction with the A690 Durham Road to the A1018 Seaham turn for several hours, with diversions in place to allow emergency crews to work in safety.

One eyewitness who drove past the scene minutes after the accident described seeing three damaged cars, one of which was on its roof.

“There is debris all across the road,” he said.

“The cars are just trickling past to get through the debris, but they will have to shut the road to clear it.”

A North East Ambulance Service spokeswoman said one person had been taken to hospital: “We received a call at 20.40 to a report of a onevehicle road traffic collision.

“We have sent four vehicles from our hazardous area response team and two ambulances so far.

“There are a total of three potential patients.

“One patient has already been pre-alerted through to Sunderland Royal Hospital with serious head and pelvic injuries.”

A Durham Constabulary spokeswoman confirmed a large number of officers were on the scene.