A pile-up involving a British army transporter carrying small tanks killed five people on the M1 motorway today.
The collision involved 11 vehicles, including the transporter carrying three lightly armoured vehicles returning from the Gulf.
Emergency teams airlifted two people to hospitals in Birmingham and rushed four more to a nearby hospital in Leicester.
The crash took place north of the M6 turn off, at Junction 19 near Lutterworth just after 7.30 a.m.
"The flatbed transporter was travelling north when another vehicle pulled out in front of it causing it to swerve and jack-knife," said a Ministry of Defence spokesman.
"It is unclear what happened next but somehow half the vehicle crossed the central reservation and ended up in the flow of oncoming traffic going south," he added.
The army vehicles, which belonged to the Queen's Royal Lancers regiment, were being transported from Portsmouth to Catterick base in North Yorkshire. The motorway was expected to be closed for much of the day.