A CAR passenger suffered serious internal injuries in a four-vehicle collision at a village crossroads.

The 37-year-old man, from Front Street, Fishburn, County Durham, suffered broken ribs, a broken pelvis and thorax, and also head injuries, in the accident at Sherburn Village, near Durham City, on Tuesday afternoon.

He was freed from the wreckage by firefighters and airlifted to the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where his condition was later said to be serious but stable.

He was in a Rover whose driver, a 26-year-old man, from Maughan Terrace, Fishburn, was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham with broken ribs.

The other vehicles involved in the accident were a VW Golf, a Peugeot 205 and a BMW 318.

The driver of the Golf, a 53-year-old Peterlee woman, was released from Durham's University Hospital after treatment for whiplash.

The driver of the Peugeot, a 43-year-old man from Durham, also suffered whiplash and needed hospital treatment and his passenger, a 16-year-old boy, was treated by paramedics at the scene for shock.

The BMW driver, a 46-year-old man from Sherburn Village, was uninjured. His two passengers suffered minor injuries but were not detained in hospital.

A Durham Police spokesman urged anyone who witnessed the accident to contact them on 7 0191-375 2159.