A FIVE-year-old boy has died after the car in which he was travelling hit a cow and span out of control in North Lanarkshire.
The youngster was being driven by his 41-year-old father on a foggy main road shortly before 4am yesterday when they hit the animal.
The boy was immediately taken by ambulance from the scene of the accident in Newmains to Wishaw General Hospita
l, but died a short time later.
His father, who was the only other person in the car at the time, was also taken to hospital and is being treated for minor injuries.
The cow was found dead nearby after the incident.
Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash, which happened on the A73 close to Herdshill Farm, which lies on the southern edge of the village.
Margaret McGeary, who runs the Herdshill Guest House in Newmains, next to the scene of the accident, said: "I wasn't aware of what had happened until 9 o'clock this morning when I tried to go out of the house.
"I could just see that there was a dead cow on the road. I hadn't realised at that point there was a fatality. I thought they were just trying to clear the cow away.
"That's very unusual for around here. The fields of cows are not immediately beside the road.
" It must have come from a little bit further afield. It must have got loose.
"It was a full-sized cow, quite a sizeable animal and it obviously got the car's full force.
"It's a 60mph road so it was probably going at a reasonable speed."
Two other people have died in crashes on Scotland's roads in the past 48 hours.
One of the occupants of a green Land Rover died in Perth and Kinross when it was involved in a collision late on Friday night. No other vehicles were involved.
A biker died on Friday after colliding with a lorry near Loch Lomond.
The full article contains 339 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
