February 20, 2001 11:06: THREE people narrowly escaped death when a lorry hit a car on the M25 and plummeted 30ft onto the A2 interchange below.

Rescue workers said it was a miracle no-one was killed when the 35-ton truck smashed into the stationary car before plunging onto the road below.

The motorway had to be closed for several hours from 10.30am on Friday, causing huge tailbacks which were still affecting traffic in the evening.

Eyewitness Terry Granger, 34, from Swanley, said: "I can't believe the lorry has been able to fall onto the interchange.

"I use this junction regularly and that truck could easily have landed on me."

Two women, who were in the broken-down Vauxhall Tigra on the inside lane of the motorway when it was hit by the truck, were taken to Darent Valley Hospital by air ambulance, where they were treated for head injuries.

Consultant John Thurston, who treated the women, said: "They have had a miraculous escape and they should be dead after what happened."

Toni Lamb, 49, and Jeannie Rumble, 50, both of Lancing, East Sussex, said they were knocked unconscious by the impact, which spun the car around in a 180 degree arc.

Ms Lamb, who was cut from the wreckage by fire crews, said: "One minute I was sitting in the driver's seat waiting for the recovery people, the next I was lying across the passenger seat. I felt like I had been run over by a truck, then I realised I virtually had been."

The lorry-trailer was registered in the Netherlands but the cab had a right-hand drive. If it had been a left-hand drive cab the driver would have died because the lorry landed on its left side.

The lorry driver said: "I am a very lucky man. There was nothing I could do. The truck just went over the edge, I thought that was it."

Police had to use a crane to remove the wreckage.