A PERSON has been airlifted to hospital after three people were injured in a crash on a busy Dorset route.

Emergency services responded to a two-vehicle crash on the A35 at Long Bredy near Winterbourne Abbas at around 10.30am today (Wednesday, September 29).

Police officers shut the road as firefighters and ambulance crews arrived at the scene.

One injured person was able to free themselves from one of the vehicles, but a woman was trapped inside another vehicle.

The roof of the vehicle was cut by firefighters in order to free the trapped woman and allow her to receive medical treatment.

Dorset Echo:

An air ambulance landed nearby and airlifted an injured person to hospital, according to a spokeswoman for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Two other people involved in the collision were taken to hospital by road ambulance.

A spokeswoman for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "Crews from Bridport and Dorchester were mobilised to a two-vehicle road traffic collision on the A35 at Long Bredy at 10:30am today.

"A female from one vehicle had to be extricated using hydraulic cutting equipment to remove the roof of the vehicle as she was medically trapped.

"There was another casualty in the other vehicle who was also injured but managed to self-extricate. Both casualties were left in the care of the ambulance and one airlifted to hospital."

The A35 was reopened eastbound after 11.40am, but the westbound carriageway remained closed to allow debris to be cleared from the road.

The route was fully reopened after 12.45pm and traffic began to ease.