One woman died and another was left with serious injuries after a horrific two-car crash on a north-east road.
The smash happened on the B9170 New Deer-Inverurie road and involved a silver Volkswagen Jetta and a blue Ford Fiesta.
Police, firefighters and paramedics were all called to the scene at Barravale, between Inverurie and Oldmeldrum.
The woman who died was treated at the scene but later died form her injuries at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The other woman was taken to ARI with serious injuries. Her condition was not known last night.
It is understood both women were alone in their vehicles when the crash happened shortly before noon.
Both cars were left wrecked, with the Fiesta forced into a field by the impact.
The left-hand side of the vehicle was badly caved in and its windscreen was smashed, while the front of the VW was also crumpled.
One local man who lives beside he B9170 said the stretch had previously been a blackspot for crashes.
However, he added that in recent years – following work to its surface – there had been very few.
He said: “I was only aware of what had happened when the various police vehicles started appearing. I wasn’t really aware of the accident, just the vehicles as they arrived.
“That used to be quite a notorious area for accidents but a few years ago they put on an experimental road surface, low slip, and some signs were put up.
“Ever since then it hasn’t really been so bad.”
One local woman said: “There hasn’t been an accident for some time.”
Last night a police spokesman said: “Police Scotland can confirm that following a two-vehicle collision on the B9170 Inverurie to Oldmeldrum road at about noon today, the 55-year-old female driver of one of the vehicles has sadly died in hospital.
“Police request anyone who saw the collision to make contact on 101.”
Inverurie and District councillor Bryan Stuart said: “There have been a number of serious accidents on that road and obviously a fatality causes a lot of concern.
“It is a busy road, especially at peak times, although that won’t have been the case today.
“Obviously until we have got information about what occurred it is hard to comment. It is terrible for the family and friends involved.
“The north-east has a pretty bad record for collisions for whatever reason, we obviously want to do everything we can to address it.”
Three fire appliances – two from Inverurie and one from Oldmeldrum – were called to the incident.
A fire and rescue spokeswoman said: “We got the call at 11.59am and we had three appliances there. The stop message came back at 12.20pm.
They were helping paramedics with a first aid. They were also making the vehicles safe.
In November last year a 51-year-old driver was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with “serious” leg injuries following a crash on the B9170 between Methlick and New Deer.
And in December 2014 20-year-old Fraser Gibbon died after being struck by an estate car on the road between Cuminestown and New Deer.
