Two die in England motorway horror

Two people died today in a huge Oxfordshire motorway pile-up involving more than 100 vehicles.

A motorcyclist died after his bike crashed with a van in thick early morning fog on the southbound carriageway of the M40 at Lewknor, Oxfordshire, police said.

A second man died later in Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, a Thames Valley Police spokesman said.

Several people were seriously hurt in about 20 ‘‘knock-on’’ accidents at around 7am between junctions five and eight near High Wycombe.

Fire crews had to cut people free from the wreckage at the scene, allowing some of the injured to be air-lifted to hospital.

Oxfordshire Ambulance Service said medics feared the pile-up could have been a lot worse.

About 18 people were receiving treatment in the John Radcliffe Hospital as well as in the Wycombe General hospital in High Wycombe, and this number was not expected to rise significantly.