ANOTHER life was claimed in a crash on a North Yorkshire road today.

Two cars were involved in the crash near Westler Foods factory on the B1257 between Amotherby and Swinton, near Malton, at 5.30am.

Police said the cars were travelling in opposite directions.

Paramedics pronounced the middle-aged male driver of one of the cars dead at the scene.

A woman in the other car, a Vauxhall Corsa, suffered slight injuries but was not taken to hospital.

The road was closed today while police investigated the scene.

Traffic was being diverted north towards Kirby Misperton this morning.

The fatal accident is the latest in a string of crashes near Malton.

On Tuesday, a woman died on the A64 close to Barton Hill, near Malton. Five people, including two children, were injured in the smash.

The woman was a front seat passenger in a Citroen ZX which hurtled off the road into a road bridge.

On Monday, five people, including two children, were injured in a car crash on the A64 at Golden Hill, near Welburn.

Three of the injured people, Alan Lambert, 71, from Shipley, and John and Isobel Leach, from Leeds, were described as "comfortable" in York Hospital today.

Updated: 11:01 Thursday, June 03, 2004