Roadside heart op bid to save motorist

A CAR crash victim underwent open heart surgery at the roadside as an air ambulance doctor battled to save her life yesterday.

Tragically the woman, in her 50s, later died in hospital despite the efforts of medics.

She was critically injured when her car collided with a coach on a slip road for the A19 near Seaham, County Durham.

Police, the fire service, six ambulances and the Great North Air Ambulance went to the scene and the unnamed woman was cut free from the crushed wreckage of her Vauxhall Corsa.

The coach was not carrying passengers. Its driver was shaken but uninjured.

A spokesman for the Great North Air Ambulance said: “We were called to a crash on the A19. Our doctor-led trauma team performed open heart surgery on a female.”

A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said the victim was taken to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough but was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.