A LORRY driver was arrested last night after three members of the same family – including a one-year-old baby girl – died in a horrific crash.

The victims were travelling in a people carrier that was involved in a head-on collision with a lorry on the B1404 between Houghton-le-Spring and Seaham, County Durham, yesterday afternoon.

After colliding with the car, the lorry careered off the road, ploughed through two hedges and ended up 250 yards away on the 15th fairway of the nearby Sharpley Springs Golf Club.

The lorry driver was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving following the accident, which happened at about 12.20pm.

The identities of the casualties are not expected to be released until today, but it is known that they are from the Houghton-le-Spring area and were a man aged 75, an 18- year-old woman and the baby girl, and that they were in a Renault Megane Scenic.

A 74-year-old woman survived the impact and was taken to hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the Volvo lorry, from Hetton-le- Hole, suffered whiplash injuries and was last night being questioned by police.

Among the first people on the scene were two off-duty policemen who had been playing golf.

The officers helped the lorry driver before going to the car to give first aid before the emergency services arrived.

Simon Weightman, a farmer who diversified to build Sharpley Springs Golf Club, was in the clubhouse when the accident happened.

He said: “I suddenly saw a lorry in the middle of the fairway. Then I saw a person get out and collapse on the ground. Some golfers playing that hole turned out to be detectives and they were very quickly on the scene of the crash.

“The bang was so loud I thought it must have been a head-on collision.

The lorry’s fuel tank was ruptured as if the lorry had gone over the car. I got a quick glimpse of the car, but it was very traumatic to see it.”

Mr Weightman said it appeared the 12-tonne truck had been travelling towards Houghton-le-Spring and the car towards Seaham when the accident happened on a 60mph stretch of road.

He said: “There is a slight bend at that point.

“It is really a fast section of improved B road and it has had a lot of serious accidents over the last 20 years. It is probably one of County Durham’s most notorious roads.

“Really, a 50mph speed limit with a camera would help the situation.”

A Durham Police spokesman confirmed the grim details of the accident last night.

He said: “A one-year-old baby girl was among the victims of this afternoon’s fatal road accident.

“Police have now established the three people who died were all travelling in the car and were members of the same family.

“They are a man aged 75, who is believed to have been the driver, a woman aged 18 who was a rear passenger and a one-year-old girl who was also in the rear of the car.

“A 74-year-old woman, who was the front seat passenger remains in The James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough with serious injuries.

The family are from the Houghton-le-Spring area.

“After being treated for whiplash-type injuries, the lorry driver, a 42-year-old man from Hetton- le-Hole, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He is currently in police custody.”

The road remained closed for several hours while accident investigators examined the scene.