Four killed in head-on crash

Witnesses described how two cars collided head on and burst into flames on the A9 Perth-Inverness road at around 3.30pm.

Northern Constabulary said four people died at the scene and two more were injured.

A woman and child were taken from the wreckage at Slochd, north of Aviemore, to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

Ben Hayes, 34, was driving north on the single-carriageway route with his partner and nine-week old baby when he saw a car swerve towards him from the opposite side.

"It started to drift across the road so I pulled in as tight as I could. It hit the car behind us head on," he said. "I saw it in the mirror, and it burst into flames. It didn't look like anybody would be walking away from it."

He said the southbound vehicle moved across the carriageway slowly, "as if the driver had fallen asleep".

The Scottish Ambulance Service said the injured woman had suspected broken legs but the condition of the child was unknown.

The A9 is one of Scotland's worst accident blackspots and campaigners have long called for upgrades.

The crash site was just south of a stretch of dual carriageway near Slochd summit.