POLICE have named a woman who died following a head-on crash on a North-East road earlier this week as Elizabeth Morgan.

Two other people were injured in the crash on Monday morning and police are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed it to come forward.

The collision, which involved three vehicles, happened shortly before 11am on the A689, about one mile west of the Rushyford roundabout, at Windlestone, County Durham.

Mrs Morgan, 50, of Abbey Gardens, Willington, County Durham, was driving a Seat Leon heading east on the A689, when police say she may have been trying to overtake a line of slow-moving traffic.

Her car is understood to have been in collision with the rear offside wheel of a Ford Fiesta, before it continued across onto the opposite carriageway and collided head-on with a Suzuki Vitara.

Both the Seat Leon and the Suzuki Vitara left the carriageway, which was closed in both directions as a result of the collision. It re-opened at 4pm yesterday.

Mrs Morgan, who was alone in the Seat, suffered multiple injuries and was taken to The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, by air ambulance, where she died later that day.

The driver of the Suzuki Vitara, a 65-year-old woman from Rushyford, suffered a punctured lung and fractures to her ribs and an arm.

She was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital where her condition was described last night as “comfortable”.

A passenger in the Suzuki, a 65-year-old man, also from Rushyford, sustained bruising and was also taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital but has now been released.

The driver of the Ford Fiesta, a 57-year-old woman from Chilton, County Durham, was unhurt.

Anyone who saw the incident or has information regarding the vehicles involved shortly before it occurred is asked to contact Durham Police’s collision investigation unit on 0191-375-2159.