Families involved in fatal crash

Fifteen people in nine other vehicles suffered minor injuries

A mother and daughter are recovering in hospital after a crash on the M5 in Gloucestershire in which the girl's father and two other people died.

The family, from Birmingham, were in a car hit by a van which had crashed through the central barrier.

A married couple from Coventry, who were in the van, were declared dead at the scene near Tewkesbury.

The woman who survived has a knee injury and her 11-year-old daughter has a fractured pelvis.

Beer barrels

The girl is in Birmingham Children's Hospital where her injuries are said not to be life-threatening.

Her mother is due to be released from hospital on Sunday evening or Monday, a police spokesman said. The family is from Edgbaston.

Fifteen people travelling in nine other vehicles suffered minor injuries in the accident which happened shortly before 1930 BST on Friday.

The southbound carriageway had been closed between junctions eight for the M50 and nine for Tewkesbury, and the northbound between junctions 11 and eight.

The motorway reopened on Saturday morning.

Many of the vehicles involved were damaged by beer barrels, which fell from the van as it crashed through the barrier, a police spokesman said.

A 100m (328ft) section of the barrier was destroyed in the accident.