A 21-YEAR-OLD woman is in a critical condition after being involved in an eight-car pile-up on the M5 near Cullompton last week.

She continues to receive care at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, after the crash on the northbound carriageway took place on Thursday between junctions 28 and 29 at 9pm.

A police spokesman said there are no updates on the condition of her one-year-old girl, but said there was "no indication she was critically injured".

Scores of motorists were stranded on the motorway after the northbound carriageway was closed for about 11 hours.

Nick Miles, a driver caught up in the incident, described it as "chaotic and frightening".

He said: "I arrived just as the initial collisions happened. Cars were late braking and then there was one last collision and a big bang as a car couldn't get out of the way in time.

"Some were trapped and people were rallying around, establishing what could be done and who was hurt and needed urgent assistance — it was pitch black, chaotic and very frightening in those first 10 minutes."

About 30 police officers attended the crash, along with six fire crews who used power-cutters to release five people who were trapped in their vehicles.

One of the injured, a 41-year-old man from Cullompton, is understood to have helped rescue the one-year-old girl from the vehicle in which she was travelling with her parents, who were also taken to hospital but the man was later released.

The southbound carriageway was closed for a short period to allow a rescue helicopter from RAF Chivenor and the police helicopter to land. Among others injured were a 26-year-old man from the Okehampton area and a woman from the Bristol area.

Casualties were also taken to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, Bristol's Frenchay Hospital and Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. There were also several walking wounded who were treated by paramedics.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident and are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Acting Chief Inspector Richard Pryce, of Devon & Cornwall Police's road policing unit, described it as a "particularly nasty" incident.