About 8.20am yesterday, witnesses called for urgent help on the New England Highway after a northbound Toyota Echo collided head-on with an oncoming Toyota Aurion, about 25km out of Tamworth.

An ambulance rescue crew was called to back up paramedics and police at the scene, near Goonoo Goonoo Station, after the impact of the crash injured both drivers.

“The 42-year-old male driver of the Toyota Echo was trapped in the vehicle, and the female driver of the Aurion was able to free herself,” Oxley Chief Inspector Phil O’Reilly said yesterday.

Paramedics treated the woman, believed to be in her 60s, whose condition deteriorated at the scene before she was transported to Tamworth hospital with pelvic and leg injuries.

A doctor and paramedic, who were tasked to the scene on board the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, examined the man after he was freed from the wreckage.

“The male driver, after being released, was flown by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Tamworth Base Hospital where he has a number of serious injuries,” Chief Inspector O’Reilly said.

Yesterday, he was being treated for multiple fractures and suspected internal injuries.

The collision made the highway a no-go zone as crash investigators examined the scene and crews mopped up the spill from the wreckages of both vehicles, which were towed from the scene.

“The New England Highway was closed for a period of approximately two hours while the investigations were carried out and some contra-flow traffic arrangements were made,” Chief Inspector O’Reilly said.

“At this stage we are unaware of the cause of the accident, and the Northern Tablelands Crash Investigation Unit attended and are investigating and will determine the cause.”