A TEENAGE boy has been airlifted to hospital following a three-vehicle accident on Teesside.

He was a passenger in one of two cars which careered into a ditch - one landing on its roof.

The collision closed the Seaton Carew Road, near its turn off to Hartlepool Power Station, just before 9am this morning.

A spokesman for the Great North Air Ambulance said: "We attended and took a 16-year-old male with limb fractures to the James Cook University Hospital.'' The two car drivers, a man in his 20s and a woman motorist, were taken to hospital by road ambulance.

Cleveland Fire Brigade crew manager Paul Bellerby said: "When we got there all the casualties were out of the vehicles. It looked worse than it was.'' It is understood the car carrying the boy clipped a wagon coming in the opposite direction as it overtook a car.

The impact with the lorry spun the car into the car it was overtaking, sending both vehicles into a roadside ditch.

Cleveland Police say it is investigating the incident.