Emmerdale viewers watched in horror as a catastrophic car crash pile-up, which has been teased for weeks, left several people with gruesome injuries.

All the episodes this week have been focusing on the same 24-hour period, but from perspectives of different groups of characters – until their stories all collided with one catastrophic event.

members of the emmerdale cast (ITV)(ITV)

The first episode of Thursday’s double bill in the ITV soap ended with several cars crashing into one another, with two people trapped under water and one falling off the bridge in what has been described as one of the biggest stunts in a British soap.

And viewers couldn’t cope as they watched James fall and hit Ashley’s car, which in turn, kick-started a chain of car crashes involving Aaron, Robert, Lachlan, Pierce, Paddy and Rhona – with Aaron and Robert (aka Robron) finding themselves trapped under water.

People were blown away by the dramatic plot:

The speculation was that James didn’t survive the fall – after being pushed by Emma:

But miraculously, he was found breathing and taken to the hospital:

Meanwhile, Emma is getting a lot of hate on Twitter as being the person responsible for the epic crash:

Some did make it out alive after the gruesome collision, but it remains to be seen whether any of them will make a full recovery.

And viewers have one burning question: