Police have named the man who died in an ambulance which was taking him to hospital as Stewart Taylor, 54, of Braeside, Edmondsley, County Durham.

He had suffered a heart attack and was on his way to hospital but died after the ambulance taking him to hospital was involved in a collision at a crossroads, police said.

The middle-aged man,appeared to have had a second seizure after the ambulance collided with a car, a Durham Police spokesman said.

The spokesman, who described the incident as a "tragedy", said the ambulance was on its way to Durham's University Hospital and was travelling through the village of Sacriston when it collided with a Seat Ibiza at around 6.30am today.

''The heart attack victim then appears to have suffered a second seizure and efforts to revive him failed,'' the police spokesman said.

The ambulance driver, a fellow paramedic and the Seat driver were taken to hospital in a second emergency vehicle after suffering whiplash and shock.

Police accident investigators were making inquiries at the scene.

A Durham Police spokesman said the ambulance had its emergency lights and siren in operation before the collision which occurred at a crossroads which is governed by traffic lights.

A second ambulance was called after Mr Taylor's condition worsened but he was certified dead shortly arriving at University Hospital.

The ambulance driver, a 48-year-old from Shotley Bridge, County Durham, his 37-year-old colleague from Washington, Tyne and Wear, and the Seat driver, a 31-year-old woman from Fulwell, Sunderland, were all released from hospital after suffering minor injuries.