TWO women have died and a teenage girl has been injured in the third fatal collision on the A96 in less than a fortnight.
The women, aged 48 and 56, were travelling in a Vauxhall Mokka when it was involved in a crash with a lorry and a VW Golf on Kinloss Road in Forres at around 15:05 on Monday. Both women were pronounced dead at the scene.
A 15-year-old girl, also in the Vauxhall, was airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with injuries. The lorry driver and the occupants of the VW Golf were not hurt.
This latest incident follows the death of Alison Campbell, 65, from Caithness, who died on July 22 in a collision involving a car and a tipper van near Inverness Airport.
Just days earlier, on July 18, a 50-year-old woman died in hospital after a two-car crash at Newton of Perry, also near Inverness.
The day before that incident, an 18-year-old motorcyclist was injured in a separate crash with a car near Auldern.
Police Scotland confirmed the A96 was closed for several hours following the most recent incident.
Sgt Lesley Morrison of Road Policing in Elgin said to the BBC: "We would like to speak to anyone who witnessed this tragic crash or anyone who has dashcam footage of it."
The A96, which links [[Inverness]] and Aberdeen, crosses large stretches of rural farmland.
It consists mostly of single carriageway, with occasional dualled sections and crawler lanes.
Plans to fully dual the 86-mile (138km) route were shelved last year despite a 2011 commitment.
However, following a recent consultation by Transport Scotland, the Scottish Government has said that full dualling between Aberdeen and Inverness remains its "current favoured position".
