Six people have been taken to hospital after a serious crash on the M5 involving seven cars and a coach, officials have said.

Police officers were called at around 10.15am on Thursday to reports of three collisions on the same stretch of road between Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea.

Emergency services attended the scene and six people were taken to hospital, South Western Ambulance Service Trust (SWAST) said.

Vehicles were stopped for a short period on the northbound carriageway so that an air ambulance could land and lift at the scene, Avon and Somerset Police said.

Police added that no injuries were believed to be life-threatening or life-changing at this stage.

A spokesperson said in a statement: “Emergency services attended collisions on the M5 southbound between junctions 21 for Weston-super-Mare and 22 for Burnham-on-Sea.

“The first call came in to police just after 10.15am today, Thursday 24 February.

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“Eight vehicles, including a coach, were involved in three collisions on the same section of road at that time.

“The fire and rescue service and air and land ambulances attended.”

It added that lanes two and three were reopened by 11.45am, while closures in lane one were handed to National Highways at around midday “pending recovery of the vehicles”.

A spokesperson for SWAST said: “We were called at 10.16am to a road traffic incident on the M5 between junctions 21 and 22.

“We sent an air ambulance, two double-crewed land ambulances, two operations officers, and a hazardous area response team, and conveyed six patients to hospital by land ambulance.”

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