THE inquest has opened into the death of a nine-year-old boy in North Dorset.

Zachary Spencer Roe, known as Zac, died in a car crash on the A354 on the evening of Monday, March 25.

Area coroner for Dorset, Rachael Griffin, opened the inquest into his death at Bournemouth Town Hall on Thursday, March 28.

Zac was born on December 26, 2014, in Basingstoke, but was living in Andover in Hampshire at the time of his death.

At 5.21pm on March 25, emergency services were alerted by members of the public to a crash on the A354 Salisbury Road at East Woodyates.

It involved a Citroen DS9, a Ford Transit and a DAF cattle transporter truck and trailer.

Zac, a passenger of the Citroen, was confirmed dead at the scene by paramedics.

A police investigation is ongoing into the incident.

The coroner’s court heard how a post-mortem had been undertaken on March 27, and Zac’s provisional cause of death was given as a crushing injury to the chest.

Ms Griffin adjourned the hearing for a pre inquest review at 2pm on August 30.

She asked to be given an update on the investigation from Dorset Police within the next 28 days.