Police car and ambulance in crash

Two police cars close to the scene of the smash

Two police officers and a paramedic have been injured in a head-on crash between a police car and an ambulance.

A policewoman was airlifted to hospital after the crash on the A939 near the Lecht Ski Centre in Aberdeenshire.

A male police officer - the driver of the Northern Constabulary training car - had to be cut free of the wreckage and was taken to hospital by road.

The ambulance driver was taken to hospital in Elgin. Three other people escaped the crash uninjured.

The ambulance was not carrying a patient.

The police car was carrying four officers, while two paramedics were in the ambulance.

The accident happened in the Grampian force area but the car belonged to Northern Constabulary.

An air ambulance flew a female passenger of the police car to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. Two other officers who were in the car were taken to the same hospital by colleagues to be checked over.

A fourth police officer and the paramedic were taken by road ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Training vehicle

Northern Constabulary said the conditions of the two officers taken to hospital by ambulance were not thought to be life threatening.

The force confirmed the car involved was a training vehicle.

A Grampian Police spokesman said: "A police car from the Northern Constabulary area was in collision with an ambulance around 1040 BST this morning.

"Two police officers and one paramedic sustained injuries as a result of the accident and Grampian Police officers are working with our colleagues in Northern to establish exactly what happened."

Last month, Northern Constabulary launched an investigation after two of its vehicles collided while responding to an emergency call.

The crash happened on Culduthel Road at its junction with Broom Drive in Inverness.

A police driver has been reported to the procurator fiscal.

The vehicles and a garden wall were damaged. No-one was injured in the collision.