Head-on crash kills two girls, 17

Police say the weather was poor when the crash happened

Two 17-year-old girls have died after police say the car they were in lost control on a wet road in heavy rain and was in a head-on collision.

South Wales Police said the MG Rover ZR collided with a black Audi A3 going in the opposite direction on the A465 heads of the valleys road near Merthyr.

The Welsh Ambulance Service said the girls, both from Rhondda, died at the scene.

Three men in the other car had minor injuries and were taken to hospital.

Insp Wayne Tucker, of South Wales Police, said the girls were from the Treherbert and Blaencwm areas of Rhondda. Their next-of-kin have been informed.

The injured men, who were taken to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr, were travelling in the Audi A3.

The crash was on Saturday between Hirwaun and Merthyr

He said the MG Rover had been travelling towards Merthyr when "for reasons yet to be established the vehicle lost control".

The crash happened at about 1350 GMT on Saturday between Hirwaun and Merthyr.

"At the time of the collision the weather was poor as it was raining heavily and the road surface was very wet," Insp Tucker said.

Insp Paul Hearse later confirmed the dead girls were the only people travelling in the MG Rover.

"There were three people in the other car. The driver of that car was a man who suffered minor injuries and is very shaken up," he said.

Anyone who saw the MG Rover travelling from Rhondda towards Merthyr along the A465 is asked to contact police on 02920 633438, or their local police station.