Four people have been injured, two critically, after a high-speed crash on the Stuart Highway in the Katherine township, NT Police say.
Police said two men, aged 24 and 19, were airlifted to Royal Darwin Hospital with critical injuries and another two men, aged 20 and 32, were taken to Katherine Hospital and are in a stable condition after the incident on Thursday night.
Police said general duties officers spotted a red Holden Commodore heading north along the Stuart Highway at high speeds at 11:00pm last night.
By the time police located the car, it had crashed into a light pole on a median strip, caught alight and burst a water main.
Police said they were able to extract the driver and the front passenger, but the two rear passengers were pinned in the vehicle and were more seriously injured.
The two rear passengers required emergency services to extract them from the vehicle.
NT Police Superintendent Craig Garland said emergency services teams did an "exceptional job in difficult circumstances … extracting the injured and getting them to medical treatment is commendable."
The Stuart Highway is closed between the Bicentennial Intersection and Giles Street and traffic is still being diverted this morning.
Major Crash and Katherine detectives are investigating the circumstances of the crash.
