POLICE yesterday praised three Good Samaritans who lost their lives as they attempted to help at the scene of a crash.

However, motorists were urged to think of their own safety when confronted with such life-and-death situations.

Six people died in the tragedy on the A1 near Dishforth, North Yorkshire, including a couple from a Range Rover and the driver of a removal lorry, who had stopped to help victims of an earlier accident.

The three involved in the first crash were also found dead after an articulated Sainsbury's lorry ploughed into the scene of the accident.

Sergeant Steve Burns, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "The whole tragedy of this event is that three people have become victims themselves because they went to help.

"They've acted like anyone in those circumstances would have acted - they've gone to give assistance - but the public should take as many precautions as they can once they've got out of a vehicle.

"You've got fast-moving traffic on motorways and people should take as much care as they think fit."

Sgt Burns said the chain of events began after a Vauxhall Carlton, containing four people from Leeds, lost control and collided with the central reservation near the Boroughbridge and Dishforth junction.

It overturned and came to rest on the hard shoulder, where the badly injured driver managed to get out.

A removal lorry then parked behind the car and the driver, from Cheshire, went to help the occupants while his colleague warned oncoming drivers about the collision.

A Range Rover stopped in front of the car and the occupants, a married couple from Thirsk, also got out to help.

Then tragedy struck as an articulated lorry hit the removal vehicle which flipped onto the crashed Carlton, crushing the already-damaged vehicle.

Sgt Burns said: "The result is that the collision has killed the three people who stopped to tend to the occupants of the Carlton."

Firefighters took more than five hours cutting the victims from the wreckage, and many of the crew called to the scene have asked for counselling.

Divisional officer Steve Couchman, of the Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service, said: "I have never seen anything like it in my life.

"The images I saw will live with me forever, and no doubt the rest of the crew involved with the operation. It was a terrible accident and one that I will never forget."

Richard Lawley, a vehicle recovery man from near Dishforth, was called out just after 3pm on Saturday to help remove the wreckage. He discovered to his horror that two of the dead were family friends.

He said: "I was called out and I went straight away. I was just doing my job but I never expected to have to pull out my friends - it was absolute hell.

"I've seen some things in my time but nothing can compare to the carnage that I saw after the accident. It was horrific."

All six victims were confirmed dead at the scene.

Police are investigating whether the people in the Carlton who died - two women and a man - were killed in the first or the second accident. The A1 was not fully reopened to traffic for 12 hours.

The driver of the articulated lorry, Brian France, 54, of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was treated for minor injuries at Harrogate District Hospital.

He was then arrested and questioned by police and released on bail.

The driver of the Carlton was taken to Harrogate District Hospital by air ambulance. Last night, he was being treated in the intensive care unit, suffering from multiple injuries.

The passenger in the removal van was not injured but was in deep shock.

Police are anxious to hear from anyone who saw either the original accident or the second crash. Contact Harrogate Police on (01423) 505541.