A WOMAN who went to the aid of a dying pensioner has described the moment she came across the horrific crash scene.

A man, 72, died and two other people, a woman in her seventies and a man in his twenties, were seriously injured after the crash on the A120 on Sunday at 1.30am.

A Ford C-Max and a Skoda Octavia were involved in the collision, near Great Bromley and the slip road leading on to the A133.

Marie Bonnier, of Fronks Road, Dovercourt, was one of the first on the scene.

She was travelling back from an airport after a holiday with her children and noticed an ambulance pulled over and a lot of commotion in the road.

Marie, a care manager trained in First Aid, said: “There were a group of five or six young people, aged about 16 to 21, trying to rip the windscreen off this car.

“A man and woman were trapped in their car, and another young man had crawled out of the other car and was conscious – though he had quite a bit of blood on him.”

Marie went to help the couple trapped in the other car and helped to perform CPR on the elderly man.

She said: “The female was conscious, with a head injury and she was talking.

“The man had an open fracture to his right elbow, was incoherent and unresponsive.

“I noticed the gentleman ’s colour start to deteriorate.

“He needed CPR, which was really difficult while he was stuck in the car, it was all very manic.

“It was pretty obvious within five minutes he wasn’t going to make it, but we kept trying.

“His wife or partner was next to him saying ‘don’t leave me’ – it was horrible.”

Mrs Bonnier said the scene was the worst incident she has ever been involved in.

She said: “The car was unrecognisable.

“There was a lot of adrenaline, the youngsters that were there helping were amazing.

“It was frustrating, we couldn’t get him out of the car.

“I would like to get in contact with the passenger of the car, she saw the whole thing and must be in an awful state.

“I don’t think it really hit me until I got home.

“I just think if we’d got that door open, we could have got him out and may have saved him.”

Any witnesses who have not spok en to police yet can call PC Paul Fisk at the Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 101, or email collisionappeal@essex.pnn.police.uk