TWO men in their 30s and 40s were killed after a horror crash on a major motorway on Tuesday night. 

All emergency services were called to the M271 near Southampton after the crash happened just before 5.30pm.

Officers say they are not currently in a position to release any more information about the victims, other than that they were work colleagues.

Initally, police said both men were aged in the 30s, but have now corrected that information.

Three lorries and a Ford Mondeo were involved.

Both men were travelling in the Mondeo.

They have not yet been identified.

Along with the two fatalities, two of the lorry drivers were also taken to hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries. 

The incident caused both the southbound and northbound lanes to be closed between the M27 junction three Nursling and the A33 Redbridge Road. The northbound carriageway was reopened at 8.30pm.

The road remained closed southbound at J1 for Nursling for resurfacing until after 4pm today, with diversions in place via the slip roads and roundabout.

It is now fully reopen.

All emergency services attended the scene, including an ambulance rapid response unit, an ambulance officer and a hazardous area response team.

Firefighters from Redbridge, St Mary's, Totton and as far as Cosham rushed to the scene, including two RSB vehicles equipped with specialist equipment to deal with road traffic collisions.

The incident caused tail backs as far as the M27 with traffic being diverted to junction two, and police advised motorists to avoid the area.

Officers left the scene just before 4.45am this morning and handed it back to the Highways team.

The police investigation is ongoing and officers are appealing for any witnesses who saw the vehicles prior to the collision, or the incident itself, to come forward.

Sergeant Gabriel Snuggs, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said:

“Sadly this collision resulted in the death of two men and our thoughts are with their families.

“Our investigation into the exact cause of the crash is ongoing and as part of that we are appealing to the public for their help.

“The collision happened during the evening rush hour so we know there were a lot of other motorists around who may have seen something that can assist us with this investigation.

“We would urge any of those to come forward and speak to our team.

“We are particularly keen to speak to anyone who has a dashboard camera that was in the area at the time, as we would like to look at that footage.

“We would also like to thank everyone for their patience as we carried out our investigation at the scene.”

Anyone with any information is asked to call the Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 101, quoting 44150417941.