TWO Burnley men were seriously injured in the M6 smash yesterday morning which killed one and injured five.

David Lee Wood, 30, of Olympia Street, Burnley and Wayne Earnest Cole, of Oxford Road, Burnley, were travelling southbound near junction 28 when their Ford Transit was sent careering on to the northbound carriageway.

Police said an articulated lorry had hit the Transit van sending both vehicles through the central reservation and into the path of Traffic on the the opposite carriageway.

The Transit van stopped when it hit a concrete barrier. The articulated lorry straddled across all lanes of the northbound carriageway.

The driver of the lorry, a 38 year-old man from Bootle, Merseyside, died. The two men from Burnley are in the Royal Preston Hospital.

Two other people were slightly injured as their cars hit the hurtling vehicles.

Traffic only began to move some six hours after the smash and police said at its worst there were 20 mile queues.

The accident happened shortly after 6.30am. All three lanes northbound were closed between junctions 28 and 27 and, by 9am, there were 20 mile tailbacks.

On the southbound carriageway queues backed up to junction 30.

Ambulance crews from Leyland, Chorley, Skelmersdale and Burscough were called out, along with fire crews from Leyland and Bamber Bridge.

They removed a section from the central reservation barrier to get emergency vehicles from the southbound carriageway to the north and to the injured people.

The blockage was lifted after 1pm and traffic was allowed to crawl through.