A 23-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after a girl died in a collision on the M61.

Sana Patel, 12, was a passenger in a Nissan Qashqai when it was involved in a collision with a Vauxhall Corsa about a mile from junction 8 at 10.45pm on Saturday night.

Police launched an appeal to find the occupants of the Corsa, who fled the scene on foot.

Officers have now arrested a woman from Mirefield, Yorkshire, and a man from Dewsbury, Yorkshire, who remain in custody.

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Det Supt Andy Cribbin, of Lancashire Police, said: “This was a tragic incident in which 12-year-old Sana Patel lost her life and our thoughts are very much with her family and friends at his unimaginably difficult time.

“We have now made one arrest but are very much still trying to establish what happened and are asking anybody who saw the collision or either vehicle in the moments before it happened to get in touch as soon as possible. 

“We would also like to speak to anyone who was in the Corsa at the time and would urge them to make contact with us.”

Anyone with information is asked to get in touch on 101, quoting log number 1817 of July 6th.

The M61 was closed in both directions between junctions six and eight while collision investigators attended the scene and reopened at around 9am on Sunday.