A 9-year-old boy in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital's Intensive Care Unit is one of seven young people hurt in a car crash in Ngaruawahia last night.
All seven are 15 years old or younger.
The 9-year-old and a teenage boy are in the ICU in a critical condition and a 15-year-old girl is in a serious condition, a Waikato Hospital spokeswoman said.
Thee boys aged 14, 12 and 11 and a 12-year-old girl were also hurt and remained stable in a ward this morning.
The group was hurt last night about after the car they were in hit a tree on Durham St in Ngāruawāhia about 6.30pm yesterday.
All seven people were taken by ambulance to Waikato Hospital about 7pm.
The crash happened in a residential area 20km northwest of Hamilton.
The street was closed, but no other traffic was affected, a police spokeswoman said last night.
The Serious Crash Unit was investigating.
Northern fire communications shift manager Megan Ruru said firefighters freed two of the car's occupants, who were trapped.
Two fire appliances were sent to the scene about 6.30pm.