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A LORRY driver was airlifted to hospital after flipping her vehicle onto its side on the A12.

The woman, aged in her 50s, is in critical condition after the HGV, carrying a container of rice, hit the central reservation and overturned.

Police are appealing for information following the crash, which closed parts of the road for almost 12 hours, on the northbound carriageway near Dedham.

Paramedics, police officers and firefighters rushed to the scene at about 4.20pm on Friday.

The southbound carriageway was closed to allow the air ambulance to land and debris to be cleared.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “The female lorry driver, a woman in her fifties, was airlifted to Ipswich Hospital after sustaining multiple serious injuries.

“She was taken transferred to Addenbrooke's Hospital where her condition was described as critical but stable.”

Diversions were put in place but tailbacks still stretched back many miles through the night.

Traffic investigators are keen to speak to anyone who saw the lorry crash or travelling just prior to the incident.

Anyone with information call the Stanway road policing team on 101.