A man was airlifted to hospital last night after a horror four-vehicle crash in Moray left two cars on their roofs.
The pile-up happened on the outskirts of Buckie, and four people were hurt.
An air ambulance was scrambled to transport one seriously injured man to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary while another casualty was taken to Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
A white Vauxhall Mokka hatchback could be seen on its roof in the carriageway while a blue car, the make of which could not be distinguished, had also overturned and was on a verge having been badly mangled by the force of the collision.
A white Mini Cooper and a white BMW, with a dented passenger side, appeared to have been involved too.
A stretch of the A98 Fochabers to Buckie road was closed for more than four hours near the Mill House Hotel at the Bridge of Tynet junction with the Braes of Enzie road.
Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance’s Helimed 79 copter was launched from Aberdeen and arrived at the scene within 30 minutes.
After landing in a field next to the incident, paramedics took one man to the major trauma unit at the Aberdeen hospital.
As crash investigators examined the scene to try and piece together what had happened, local councillors raised fears that the slippery conditions might have played a part.
Buckie councillor Sonya Warren said: “It is quite a bad stretch of road there. It always is particularly bad when there is really heavy rain.
“Obviously our thoughts are with the people concerned.
“Hopefully nobody is too seriously injured, I’ll be thinking about those involved and hoping that they make a speedy recovery.
“Obviously road conditions can play a part, but you wouldn’t want to make assumptions about what has happened. There have been so many accidents along the Fochabers road and it really is quite a bad stretch.”
Fellow ward councillor Gordon Cowie said his thoughts are also with those injured.
“There have been two or three accidents on that stretch over the years,” he said.
“This is the first really serious accident we have had there in a while. I am thinking about everybody that is involved with the accident and their families.”
Three fire crews also attended the incident from Fochabers, Buckie and Keith.
A spokeswoman for the fire service added: “We had three appliances in attendance and a hose reel jet was in use.
“There were four vehicles involved and four casualties. The stop message was received at 5pm.”
A police spokesman said: “Two people have been taken to hospital. One to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and one to Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.”