A WOMAN suffered life-threatening injuries after a two-car collision on the A19 this afternoon (Friday).

The accident happened around 4.40pm on the northbound carriageway at Dalton Piercy, near Hartlepool.

A spokeswoman for the Great North Air Ambulance said: "The Great North Air Ambulance Service was called at 4.40pm to the A19 northbound at Dalton Piercy where two cars had collided head on.

"A woman, believed in her 40s, had sustained multiple serious and life threatening injuries. She was anaesthetised on the roadside by the GNAAS doctor and paramedic team, working alongside North East Ambulance Service personnel.

"She was then flown to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. The flight took just five minutes."