Arrest made after women seriously injured in crash

A man was arrested on suspicion of driving offences after a crash left three young women with serious injuries, police said.

Officers and paramedics were called to Broad Road near Braintree, Essex, at about 03:38 BST on 26 April after a BMW crashed on a roundabout.

One of the women's mums told the BBC her daughter was "lucky to be alive" and described the scene as "absolute carnage".

Essex Police said an 18-year-old man from Halstead was arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to stop, failing to report a collision, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and driving without insurance.

He was bailed until July.

The women all live in the Sudbury area in Suffolk, where the vehicle was being driven towards.

The BMW was left in a crumpled heap on a grass verge, with extensive damage to its bodywork and its airbags deployed, images sent to the BBC showed.

Three ambulances and an ambulance officer vehicle were sent to the scene, before transporting three people to Broomfield Hospital.

The mother, who asked not to be named, added: "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."

The sister of one of the victims believed her sibling's injuries were "life-changing".

"We were just absolutely devastated," she said.

"I now have visions of the state my sister and her friends were in and I also see different outcomes of what could have been."

The police said it was continuing to investigate the single-vehicle collision.

Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.