A MAN has died after his BMW left the M11 and landed at the bottom off an embankment.

Police say the 45-year-old Harlow man appears to have lost control of the car he was travelling in shortly after 7am this morning.

Firefighters used specialist cutting equipment to free the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The M11 was closed southbound for four-and-half-hours, between junction 7 for Epping and Harlow and junction 6 for the M25, while the black BMW 318 was recovered and crash investigators carried out their work.

The road reopened at 11.45am.

Police are now appealing for witnesses to the incident, which involved no other vehicles.

Anyone with information should call the Essex Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 101 or email collisionappeal@essex.pnn.police.uk.