Passenger critical after car hits horse
Police are appealing for information after a woman suffered serious head injuries following a collision with a loose horse in Durham
A young woman from Durham is in intensive care after the car she was travelling in hit a horse running loose on a rural A road.
The 23-year-old victim was a passenger in a Fiat Seicento travelling north-west on the A689 Toronto bypass, near the Newton Cap viaduct.
The accident happened on Sunday 15 September just before 9pm.
The woman sustained serious head injuries after the car suffered massive damage to the bodyshell, caused by the weight of the horse on impact.
She was originally taken to University Hospital before being transferred to Newcastle General Hospital where a police spokesperson described her condition as: “critical but stable in intensive care.”
The driver, a 21-year-old male, suffered minor injuries and was later released from University Hospital.
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The horse was killed outright and police are trying to trace the owner. It is unclear what sex the horse was, although it is described as “black with a white blaze”.
A police spokesperson from Durham constabulary said: “That stretch of road is in the rural west of the county and there are often horses tethered by the roadside, which belong to travelling families.”
Anyone with any information regarding the accident orowner of the horse should contact, the police accident investigation unit (tel: 0191 386 4929)
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