A WOMAN has died after a flatbed truck and a Volkswagen Transporter were involved in a head-on collision on the A35 near Holmsley in the New Forest on Sunday evening.

The 38-year-old woman driving the Lyndhurst-bound Renault flatbed suffered life-threatening injuries in the collision. She died in Southampton General Hospital on Monday afternoon.

It took fire fighters from Lymington, New Milton, Burley and St Mary’s, Southampton about 90 minutes to cut her free from the vehicle which ended up on its side.

A 10-year-old boy in the truck suffered a serious head injury and is in a “stable” condition.

Carl Prewett was one of the first on the scene and looked after the boy.

“He wasn’t very responsive at first and was drifting in and out a little bit. I made him comfortable and used gauzes on cuts to his head. It was more shock than anything, but the head injury didn’t help,” he said.

A seven-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man travelling with them suffered cuts and bruises.

The other seriously injured woman is 44 years old and from Pennington, Lymington.

The driver of the VW, she also had to be cut free from the wreckage. She was initially thought to have life-threatening injuries and is now said to be in a “stable” condition in hospital with a serious leg injury.

A 43-year-old man in the VW suffered minor injuries.

A vet attended to an injured dog from the Volkswagen.

The collision happened at about 6.15pm on the bend just south of the former Wilverley Post crossroads. The road was closed for six hours while crash investigators studied the scene.

Anyone with information should call PC Ian Stuart at Tot-ton Roads Policing Unit on 0845 045 4545 or the anonymous Crim-estoppers line on 0800 555111, quoting Operation Sugarbeet.