M11 reopens in Essex following six-vehicle crash
A stretch of the M11 motorway in Essex has reopened following a crash that left five people injured.
A lorry, a coach and four cars collided on the northbound carriageway near Stansted Airport on Monday morning.
The road was shut for 15 hours and a woman from the coach is in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The police reopened the southbound carriageway at 1830 BST on Monday with northbound lanes remaining closed until the early hours of Tuesday.
Police closed the motorway while crash investigators and commercial vehicle specialists carried out an initial investigation.
Firefighters freed a man and a woman from the coach and one person from a car.
A man and a woman, both in their 60s and in separate cars, and the lorry driver suffered minor neck and back injuries.
All five were taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.
Ch Insp Scott Egerton, of Essex Police, said both sides of the motorway had been closed after the crash for safety reasons.
Damage to the central crash barriers, and a diesel spillage, meant the northbound stretch was not reopened until the early hours when the road surface was cleared and repaired.
Ch Insp Egerton explained that everything was done to re-open the carriageway as quickly as possible.
Police have appealed for witnesses.