The 63-year-old Crawley man was seriously injured when his Vauxhall Movano van was in collision with a Renault Clio on the A23 London Road at Manor Royal in Crawley at 4pm on Tuesday afternoon.

He was taken to the New East Surrey Hospital, but later airlifted to King's College Hospital in London suffering from severe abdominal injuries.

It's thought the man suffered a massive cardiac arrest at the roadside and was revived by paramedics at the scene.

The 19-year-old Clio driver received injuries to the neck and back, but is not thought to have been badly hurt.

He was taken to New East Surrey Hospital.

One shocked witness, who watched emergency crews work round the wreckage, said: "I didn't actually see what happened but when I got there.

The white van was up on the verge and a little red car stuck in the middle.

"Its bonnet was completely crumpled into the car. There were bits of the cars scattered on the road.

"The police have taped off the area completely and directly traffic through.

"The car doesn't even look like it has a bonnet anymore its so crumpled, the person who was in the car, must be in a pretty bad state. He looked like he must have been trapped."

Rebecca Crowhurst, 24, from Dobson Road, overlooking London Road, added:
"I was painting my daughters room and I opened the window to let in some fresh air and I saw it happen.

"The Clio and the van were travelling together and out of nowhere you just saw the cars spin off apart from each other.

"I ran inside and the next thing I knew I just saw the van driver being worked on by paramedics, he was taken out of the van and was being resuscitated, you could just see their arm movements on his chest.

"My son (Tyler, 7) saw it and he was running around going 'mum, mum, that man's dead, he's dead,' and I was in tears. He had a nightmare last night afterwards.

"The other driver got out, he sort of fell out of his car in a daze I suppose because of the shock.

"He looked like he'd just hurt his neck because he was holding his neck and walking around, but then he just slumped down onto the floor.

"I was crying and Tyler was just going 'Mum he's dead, he's dead.'"

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: "The crash happened at Manor Royal.

"There were two men in different vehicles.

"One person has been taken to East Surrey Hospital with serious injuries; the other was taken to hospital suffering minor injuries.

A spokesman for West Sussex Fire and Rescue said: "We don't have much information on the incident, but it happened at 16:08 this afternoon
and we went along to help lift casualties."

Speaking from the scene Inspector Paul Tomlinson said: "We are not able to release any identities at the moment.

"Our main concern is to inform the next of kin and make sure they are aware of what has happened."

The road was closed for four hours while rescue and recovery work took place.

Anyone with any information should phone 8456070999 quoting Operation Sedgefield.

More to follow.

Did you see anything? email matthew.gaw@sussexnewspapers.co.uk