A TEN-YEAR-OLD boy and his teenage sister died in an horrific three-car crash.

And in another weekend accident, a 21-year-old woman was killed on a notorious stretch of North-East road.

The boy was a front seat passenger in a Citroen Saxo being driven by his 19-year-old sister when it was in collision with a Nissan Micra on the A693, near High Handenhold, between Stanley and Chester-le-Street, County Durham, at about 8.05pm on Saturday.

The impact spun the girl's car into the opposite lane, where it was struck at speed by a Honda Civic.

Officers were last night still informing relatives and could not release the names of the pair.

The sister, from the Stanley area, was driving west from Chester-le-Street, where her brother lived.

Police said the Nissan Micra pulled onto the westbound carriageway of the A693, at its junction with Pelton Fell.

Firefighters fought to free the brother and sister from the wreckage.

Paramedics took the boy to Gateshead's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, while his sister was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham. Both later died from their injuries.

No one else involved in the accident was seriously injured.

Hours earlier, Rebekah Lucy Stephens, of Festival Flats, Fishergate, York, was killed on the A66 in County Durham.

The accident happened close to the Cross Lanes junction, near Barnard Castle.

Miss Stephens was killed when the Astra she was travelling in went out of control and ended up on its roof in a field at about 12.30am.

The 19-year-old driver, from Bedale, North Yorkshire, was treated at Darlington Memorial Hospital for cuts, abrasions and minor concussion.

It is thought the car, which was travelling east on the A66, struck the nearside kerb and hit a tree before overturning.

Miss Stephens had to be cut free by firefighters before being taken by ambulance to Darlington Memorial Hospital, where she died.

The stretch of the A66 west of Scotch Corner is one of the most dangerous in the country.

The road has claimed more than 70 lives over the past decade, and two people were killed in an accident near Cross Lanes almost exactly a year ago.

* Witnesses to either of the weekend's accidents are asked to call Durham Police on 0191-375 2159.