Two women die after overturned lorry caused five vehicle pile-up on M4

• Police confirmed two people died in the cash near Chippenham this morning 

Two women have tragically died after a five-vehicle pile-up which saw a lorry overturn on the M4. 

Four cars and an HGV were involved in the collision on the eastbound carriageway between junction 17 for Chippenham and junction 18 for Bath at approximately 9.10am on Friday.

Two women travelling in one of the vehicles were pronounced dead at the scene, Wiltshire Police said.

Two other people involved in the collision sustained minor injuries and were treated by paramedics.

The M4 was fully closed at junction 18 eastbound and junction 17 westbound to allow emergency services to carry out recovery and investigative work. One lane on the westbound carriageway has since reopened.

Emergency services gather on the M4 near Chippenham on Friday after the five-vehicle pile-up

Police later confirmed that two women had sadly died in the the incident, which took place just after 9am

There were long delays on the M4 on Friday as the motorway ground to a halt while emergency services dealt with the incident

Acting Inspector Will Ayres of Wiltshire Police said: ‘Due to the seriousness of the collision and the vehicles involved, the recovery work and investigation at the scene is likely to take a significant time and therefore the eastbound side of the motorway will remain closed well in to this evening.

‘We have opened one lane of the westbound carriageway, however there are currently a number of emergency service vehicles still occupying that carriageway. Once these are cleared we will fully reopen this side of the motorway.’

The cause of the crash has not yet been revealed by police. 

It came on a day of travel chaos across Britain as Storm Babet brought torrential rain, flooding and high winds to large parts of the country.

The storm, which swept in from the Atlantic earlier this week and has forced the Met Office to issue rare red weather alerts warning of a ‘danger to life’, has already claimed three lives.

A woman died in Scotland on Thursday after she was tragically swept into raging waters in Angus, while today a second person was confirmed dead after a tree struck a van on the B9127 at Whigstreet near Forfar.

Later, it emerged a man had died after getting caught in fast-flowing flood water in the town of Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire. He was the storm’s third victim.

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