TWO women were killed and two men have been left fighting for their lives following an accident at Stonehenge, one of a series of incidents which brought bank holiday gridlock to south Wiltshire roads.

The two women were passengers in a Renault Laguna which was in collision with a lorry at the junction of the A360 and A303 at Stonehenge on Saturday morning.

It is believed the Renault pulled out of the A360 on to the A303 into the path of a 44-tonne Scania gravel lorry travelling towards Amesbury.

The two women, one a 28-year-old Equadorian national and the other a 25-year-old Columbian national, were both taken to Salisbury District Hospital, where one was found to be already dead. Her companion died later. The two men in the car were also rushed to hospital with serious injuries.

One man has been named as Wilson Lozada Otero (30), from the London area.

The second man, aged about 29 and also from the London area, has not yet been named.

One of the injured men was later transferred from Salisbury hospital to Southampton General Hospital.

Police say it is likely to be several days before they can release the names of the two women who died or the second man, because of difficulties in tracing next of kin.

The gravel lorry swerved off the road after the impact but remained upright.

Its driver, Mark Dibden (41), from the Southampton area, was taken to hospital and treated for shock and minor injuries and was later discharged.

Firefighters from Salisbury and Amesbury attended the scene and the A303 between the Countess and Longbarrow roundabouts was shut until 3.30pm while police cleared the road.

Traffic using the A303 was diverted on to the A345 and A338 but, shortly after the Stonehenge accident, a car caught fire on the A338 near Allington, forcing the huge volume of bank holiday traffic to use the narrow country lane through Idmiston and Porton.

No-one was hurt but the Citroen car was burnt out.

The situation worsened following an accident further along the A338 at Winterbourne Gunner involving a tractor and two cars.

The A338 was brought to a virtual standstill with long tailbacks right through Porton and Idmiston.

There were no serious injuries but the road was blocked until the damaged vehicles could be moved.

Many drivers tried using the Porton Camp road over Porton Down to the A30, London-Salisbury road, but this just caused traffic jams for cars trying to get to Salisbury with queues stretching back to Winterslow.

The Portway through Old Sarum was piled back to Porton and the Salisbury-Amesbury road was at a standstill.

Meanwhile, the city's ring road was brought to a standstill after the traffic lights at Skew Bridge broke down.

Traffic built up around Churchill Way in both directions until the lights were repaired.

Salisbury police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the Stonehenge crash to contact PC Simon Duchars on 01722 435356.