TWO men have died in a car accident on what has been described as one of the UK's most dangerous roads.

A driver and his passenger were pronounced dead at the scene of the incident on the A44 Bromyard Road just after midnight today.

They were heading towards Worcester when their silver Peugeot 106 left the road and hit a tree.

Police are now appealing for information about the collision, which occurred in the Cotheridge area, near to Laylocks nurseries.

The road was closed for five hours as the scene was cleared and diversions were put in place.

The identities of the men will not be made public until all next-of-kin have been informed and the coroner for Worcestershire, Victor Round, has been notified.

Post mortems are expected to take place on Monday.

A police spokesman said: "We don't think any other vehicle was involved, but we are keen to hear from anyone who saw the incident or the Peugeot being driven earlier last night."

Anyone with information should call police on 08457 444 888, quoting incident number 5C/160905. The A44 Worcester to Leominster road came ninth in a list of the top 10 most dangerous roads in the country in a study carried out by the AA Motoring Trust in 2003.

The trust's research showed that between 1999 and 2001 the 37km stretch of road saw 34 fatal or serious car accidents, placing drivers at medium to high risk when they travelled along it.

In 2002, the West Mercia Safety Camera Partnership Trust said there were 145 speed-related collisions on the same road. These accidents resulted in a total of 206 casualties, of which three people died and another 38 were seriously injured.