Cyclist fighting for life

A CYCLIST is fighting for his life today and another man has died after two crashes on Suffolk's roads.

The pedal cyclist was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital yesterday with serious injuries following a collision with a car on the B1078 between Charsfield and Wickham Market.

Following the accident, which happened at 8.35am yesterday the road was closed for several hours.

Suffolk police initially launched an appeal to identify the man but today said that they had been successful in tracing who he is.

Later in the day at around 12.15pm a motorcyclist was killed on the B1106 at the North Stow picnic park, south of Elveden.

The male rider whose Suzuki motorbike was involved in a collision with a Peugeot car at 12.15pm, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Further details about the rider will not be released by Suffolk Police until formal identification has taken place.

Following the crash, police investigators carried out a forensic examination at the scene. The road was closed to traffic for four hours.

The death comes just five weeks after 18-year-old Katie Whitehead, from Hockwold, Norfolk, died when her car hit a tree after veering off the same road near Brandon Country Park.

A spokeswoman for Suffolk Police said the rider's body was taken to West Suffolk Hospital. The driver of the Peugeot, although very shaken by the collision, was thought to be unhurt, she added.

The East Anglian Ambulance Service was also called to the scene of the crash.

The male rider was the sixth biker to die on the roads of Suffolk so far this year.

Anybody with information about the North Stow collision is asked to contact Bury St Edmunds Road Policing Unit on 01473 613500 while those with any details about the B1078 crash should call the same number.