A motorist whose car was involved in a fatal crash on a key road near Carlisle remains in a "critical" condition.

Police have today renewed their appeal for witnesses following the horrific crash on the A689 near to the Walby Farm Park turn-off which left a 27-year-old woman dead.

She was driving a Peugeot 208.

The driver of the other car, a Peugeot 207, was a 49-year-old man.

He airlifted to Royal Victoria Hospital in Newcastle with multiple injuries. In the car with him were his 43-year-old wife and two children, aged four and six. All are being treated at the RVI but their injuries are said to not be life-threatening.

There was a huge emergency response to the two-car collision, which happened shortly after 1pm yesterday (Sunday) on the A689, a short drive from Linstock roundabout.

The woman who died was pronounced dead at the scene. She was the only person in the Peugeot 208 car. It was in collision with the Peugeot 207, which was heading away from Carlisle. The 49-year-old man in the second car suffered serious multiple injuries.

Two helicopters from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) were called to the scene. One flew the injured man to the Major Trauma Centre at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

The second helicopter took the two children to hospital in Newcastle but their injuries were not serious.

A GNAAS spokesman said: “The male had suffered multiple injuries and arrived at hospital in a stable condition.

"The two children suffered what were described as less serious and relatively minor injuries.”

The crash happened a short distance from the Linstock roundabout.

Police closed the A689 between this roundabout and Brampton to accommodate the emergency response.

As well as the two air ambulances, there were five road ambulances, rapid response paramedics, police and two fire crews from Carlisle.

The road was closed for several hours as emergency crews and accident investigators worked there.

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service group manager Craig Drinkald said: “The accident involved two cars which were travelling in opposite directions.

“There were five people involved and tragically one was pronounced dead at the scene after being worked on by an ambulance crew.

"The family were in the vehicle travelling in the opposite direction.

“They were all taken to hospital suffering from a variety of injuries.

"We don't believe any of those injuries were life-threatening, though the driver of the second car suffered significant injuries to his lower limbs.”

The two fire crews at the scene, from east and west Carlisle, used specialist cutting gear to free the casualties from both cars.

Mr Drinkald said: “We quickly realised that this was going to be a big incident and because of the number of casualties involved we requested five ambulances.

"We worked alongside colleagues from the air ambulance service to extract the people involved from their vehicles.

“The ambulance crew worked significantly on the person who unfortunately was pronounced dead at the scene.

"The family were heading in a easterly direction and woman in the second car in the opposite direction.”

The road remained closed into early evening yesterday as investigators hunted for clues to what may have caused the tragedy.

The Cumbria police spokesman added: “Witnesses are asked to contact Cumbria police, quoting log number 123 of February 19.”