Two sisters died when their car smashed into a fuel tanker after veering into oncoming traffic and clipping a passing car.

Carol Jiggins and Janis Cusworth were killed instantly, an inquest heard, after their car crashed into a series of vehicles before ploughing into the tanker during the horrific road crash in Cornwall.

The sisters' red Rover collided with on-coming traffic on a busy section of the A30 near the Loggans Moor roundabout at Hayle, on February 24.

Eye-witnesses, some of them visibly traumatised by the incident, told the court how they saw the Rover, being driven by Ms Jiggins, "appear from nowhere" and veer into the path of oncoming vehicles.

The car first clipped a camper van, then a following Land Rover which had swerved to avoid the crash. Finally, the sisters' car became "embedded" into the empty fuel tanker.

The hearing in Truro heard how the women were travelling westbound on the A30 shortly after 10am.

Land Rover driver Janet Semmens was overtaking a fuel tanker in the outside lane when she noticed the sisters' Rover drift onto her carriageway.

She said: "I thought the Rover was coming towards me so I steered away to avoid it.

"As I swerved right I felt something clip me. Then I saw it crash into the tanker. My initial thought was that nobody would be able to survive that."

Leif Olsen, who was driving the camper van, said the Rover also struck the back of her vehicle before the sisters' car was "pushed backwards" by the 44-tonne tanker.

Its experienced driver, Mark Veancombe from Somerset, broke down in court as he gave evidence about the crash.

He said: "The red car came from nowhere. I instinctively hit the breaks as hard as I could as a reaction. The impact threw me about, although I was restrained by my seatbelt.

"The car was embedded in the front of the tanker. I got out and tried to help those in the car but I couldn't get to them. I just told the family in the camper van to stay where they were. I didn't want them to see it."

MPC Michael Lackey, who arrived at the scene later that morning, said none of the vehicles involved had any defects, nor that any of the motorists tested positive during a breath test.

Coroner Barrie van den Berg recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: "This has left us with a mystery. It is obvious nobody intended this to happen. It was a dreadful accident which can happen in the blink of an eye.

"Losing anybody is a tragedy, but when it involves two sisters, it is just awful."

Family tributes to the two women described Ms Jiggins as "passionate and fun loving, a wonderful mum and partner," and her sister as "a warm and caring wife and mother".