Four people were killed when two cars were involved in a head-on crash shortly before midnight on the A449 near Malvern in Worcestershire.

Inspector Dave Pellet of West Mercia Police: "The heat was intense"

West Mercia Police believe a red Rover saloon and another car, thought to be a Rover 216, crashed as they were travelling in opposite directions.

The Rover 216 caught fire and a Ford Sierra estate was then in collision with the red Rover.

A police spokesman said: "Fatal injuries occurred to the three occupants of the Rover 216 and the driver of the red Rover saloon."

The driver of the Sierra estate escaped unhurt.

Details of those who died will not be released until next of kin have been informed.

Police are appealing for witnesses.

Trapped

Three men also died in a crash in Cheshire.

Police say they were called to the A54 Buxton Road in Buglawton near Congleton, Cheshire, at 23.45 BST.

Officers found the three men trapped inside a Subaru car and the fire service was called to release them.

The road was closed for three hours while the men were removed from the vehicle and the wreckage taken from the scene for accident investigators to examine.

A spokesman for Cheshire Police said no details would be available about the men who died until later on Saturday.

He said: "One vehicle was involved, a Subaru car which was travelling towards Congleton. This vehicle left the road, collided with a tree, overturned and came to a rest on its roof."

All three men were taken to Macclesfield General Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival. They have yet to be identified.