A car was sliced in half when it hit a tree near Crawley early this morning.
A passenger was in hospital with serious injuries after the 3am accident.
The car was travelling northbound on the A23 between Gossops Green and Ifield. After being cut in two, the front section carried on and hit another tree before stopping.
Fire sub officer Ian Melville, from Crawley, said: "It looked so serious that at first we thought it was a pile-up of three cars."
The male passenger was taken to East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, while the male driver, who was unhurt, was taken to Crawley Hospital for a check-up.
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