Three Good Samaritans who stopped to help at a motorway crash scene were among six people killed in an horrific pile-up in North Yorkshire.

The accident happened on the A1(M) southbound between Dishforth and Boroughbridge, near Kirby Hill, and among the dead were said to be a couple from the Thirsk area.

Tony Lidgate, spokesman for North Yorkshire Police, said the tragedy began when a Vauxhall Carlton saloon car containing four people from Leeds hit the central reservation and overturned, coming to rest on the hard shoulder.

A removal van stopped just behind it to protect the car, and the van driver, from Cheshire, got out to help.

Meanwhile, a Range Rover stopped in front of the overturned car and a couple, from the Thirsk area, got out to give assistance.

A Sainsbury's supermarket HGV then ploughed into the back of the removal van, knocking it into the car.

Three passengers in the overturned car died, as did the couple from the Range Rover and the driver of the removal van.

The driver of the car is in intensive care at Harrogate District Hospital, while the HGV driver was also taken to hospital with undisclosed injuries.

A passenger in the removal van was unhurt. He is believed to have got out to warn traffic.

Police arrested the HGV driver, Brian France, 54, from Barnsley, and released him on bail until February.

Firefighters called to the accident faced a scene of "total devastation", according to Terry Glover, spokesman for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Crews from Ripon, Thirsk and Boroughbridge Fire Stations went to the scene, along with a specialist support unit from Acomb to cut casualties from the wreckage.

A 100-tonne crane had to be used to remove the van from the top of the car.

Divisional Fire Officer Steve Couchman described the scene as the worst he had experienced in 32 years as a serving firefighter.

He added: "It is very sad that on the roads of North Yorkshire we are faced with further road deaths. I implore people to take more care on the roads, an accident can take a fraction of a second and its effects can last a lifetime.