The A167 in Newton Aycliffe was closed for a number of hours on Friday night after a serious accident involving a taxi and a van.
An estimated 14 emergency service vehicles including three ambulances, three fire engines and police cars attended the scene, in between Central Avenue and the Gretna Green pub.
The two vehicles – a Skoda Octavia and a Mercedes Sprinter – collided at around 8pm on Friday night.
It’s thought one of them ended up under a stationary lorry which reportedly wasn’t involved in the initial collision and the other came to a stop in a ditch.
Firefighters removed people from a wreckage and two men were taken to hospital – one was air-lifted to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough and another by road to Darlington Memorial Hospital.
An eye witness described the scene as “a war zone” after the accident as scores of people attended the scene to see what had happened.