A PREGNANT woman was cut free from her car after a six-vehicle motorway smash.

Fire crews used cutting equipment to free the woman after the car she was travelling in plunged down an embankment and into a field.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident on the M61 at 10.20pm on Sunday night which left three people in hospital.

Emergency services were called to the scene close to junction six at Horwich after six cars collided on the northbound carriageway.

The accident left several people, including the pregnant woman, trapped in their vehicles.

She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital as a precaution but her injuries are not thought to be serious. A man, aged 31, travelling in a separate car was also taken to hospital suffering "serious head injuries, police said.

A baby also needed hospital treatment.

The motorway was closed in both directions between junction five and junction six until 4.30am on Monday as police investigated the cause of the crash and cleared wreckage from the carriageway. The force's helicopter was also used to search nearby fields for vehicles.

Bolton Fire Brigade station officer, Jim Obyrne, said: "When we arrived at the scene it was absolute chaos.

"There were so many vehicles and people involved.

"The police helicopter was called out to search the area and see if there was anybody in the fields."