A DRIVER has died and another is in hospital with serious injuries this morning following a crash near Chichester.
Emergency services were called to Common Road, Funtington, just after midnight, where a red Seat Leon heading east met a blue Peugeot 406 travelling the other way.
The driver of the Seat, a 42-year-old man from Fishbourne, died at the scene.
A 67-year-old man from Chichester, who was driving the Peugeot, was taken to Southampton General Hospital with multiple serious injuries.
He is described as being in a serious but stable condition.
Fire crews from Chichester and nearby Emsworth in Hampshire cut both men out of their vehicles with hydraulic rescue gear in an hour-long operation. There was still "savable life" in both men when they got to work on the vehicles, according to a West Sussex Fire and Rescue spokesman.
The road was completely blocked by the collision and was closed until just after 5.30am today to allow recovery work to take place and for engine fluid to be cleaned from the road.
Anyone who witnessed the collision or who may have seen either vehicle in the area beforehand should email collision.appeal@sussex.pnn.police.uk or call 101 quoting Operation Foley.
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