A woman has been airlifted to a Sydney hospital in a critical condition after a major car crash on the New South Wales Central Coast, which forced a busy highway to close for more than six hours.
A multi-vehicle crash occurred near the Punt Bridge on the Entrance Road at East Gosford shortly before 11am.
The Central Coast Highway remained closed for nearly seven hours but all lanes have since reopened.
Traffic is still affected in both directions.
The closure impacted a large number of students trying to get home.
Bus company Busways had warned parents of major delays.
"We will operate services to all schools, however, delays may be up to an hour and we are asking if possible to make other arrangements to collect students," a spokesperson said earlier on Monday.
A spokesperson said buses were able to get to some schools early, but there were still major delays during the school pick-up.
Police and officer from the Crash Investigation Unit are examining the circumstances surrounding the crash.
NSW Police said it involved two sedans and a ute.
NSW Ambulance said a man and a woman were injured in the incident.
A woman in her 70s suffered head, abdominal, pelvic and leg injuries.
She was placed in an induced coma before being airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital.
A man in his 60s was taken to Gosford Hospital in a stable condition with chest and abdominal injuries.
"This was a serious accident with two injured patients and traffic blocked in both directions on a main road," NSW Ambulance Inspector Jeff Gilam said in a statement.
"This was a confronting scene for paramedics to attend and is a reminder for people to take care on our roads."
Police are urging anyone with dash cam footage of the incident to contact CrimeStoppers.
