A woman has died and three others have been hospitalised after a tragic crash involving horses early this morning in Renfrewshire.
The A737 near Howwood was closed for almost 12 hours after police received a call regarding the incident shortly after 3am.
The crash involved a Mercedes A-Class car and a MAN box van, with police officials confirming they received calls regarding six horses on the loose on the A737 around the same time as the incident.
Multiple emergency services personnel rushed to the scene – including four ambulances, three special operations response teams and one paramedic response unit.
Medical crews pronounced one of the passengers of the Mercedes car dead at the scene.
A 52-year-old man who was the driver of the car was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. A 33-year-old passenger in the car, as well as the 59-year-old driver of the van, were taken to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital for assessment.
Four of the horses died after being struck by vehicles – two were taken to safety. The road was closed while an investigation was carried out and reopened at 2pm.
Sergeant Jack Swindells said: “We are providing support to the family of the woman who died as our enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances of this crash.
“We would appeal to anyone who was driving on the A737 on Monday morning around the time of the crash who either witnessed the crash take place or seen the horses running on the road.
“Anyone with dash-cam footage is also asked to please contact us as soon as possible. Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident number 0291 of September 23.”
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We received a call at 3.22am to attend a road traffic collision on A737 at Howwood, Johnstone.
“Four ambulances, three special operations response teams (SORT) and one paramedic response unit were dispatched to the scene. Two patients were transported to the Royal Alexandria Hospital and one patient to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.”
Don’t miss the latestRenfrewshire headlines –sign up to our free daily newsletter here