Family of five dies in fireball

A FAMILY of five was killed when their car burst into flames after a motorway crash involving three lorries and another car.

Three young children and two adults - believed to be their parents - died in the fireball after the pile-up on the M6 in Cheshire yesterday evening.

Police today said the aftermath of the crash was like a "war zone".

A 46-year-old Portuguese HGV driver, who works for a Spanish firm, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Police were set to question him today through an interpreter.

Speaking from a bridge which overlooks the scene, Inspector Brian Rogers said the carnage was so bad fire, police and ambulance crews would need counselling.

He said: "In civilian life the nearest thing you would ever come to it is a war zone. There was the utter devastation of this vehicle and five people killed.

"I feel so sorry for the officers from the emergency services who had to deal with it.

"Clearly there is a welfare need for them because they will be traumatised and shocked, and also for the family. The worst job is yet to come when the five are identified and someone has to tell the next of kin. It's a tragedy."

Officers initially thought only four people had died before discovering the body of a third child.

Mr Rogers said the dead had not been identified and the car was so badly damaged it would have to be identified through its chassis number. All the vehicles have been removed for examination.

The crash happened at 10.40pm between junctions 16 and 17 of the north-bound carriageway near Sandbach. It came less than two hours after a man died in a crash on the same stretch of the M6.

The man, in his thirties, was killed between junctions 17 and 18 when his van ploughed into a bridge.

Traffic tailbacks built up on the north-bound carriageway in heavy rain after the first crash.

Mr Rogers said both crashes were part of the same investigation. He could not say when the names of the dead would be released or comment on the cause of the tragedy.

The north-bound stretch of the M6 through Cheshire remained closed until about 7.20am today.

There was another crash on the M6 at 5am today when a car travelling north crossed the central reservation and hit a van heading south.

Nobody is thought to have suffered serious injuries in the crash, between junction 15 and 14.

The M6 deaths followed a crash near Kirk Langley in Derbyshire in which three people, including a 12-year-old girl, died. Two men were pronounced dead at the scene after the head-on collision.