17-YEAR-OLD WOMAN AIRLIFTED AFTER RAYMOND TERRACE CRASH

A young woman is in a critical condition after being involved in a car crash near Raymond Terrace.

Emergency units responded to a two-car collision on Seaham Road around 11am.

It took rescuers more than an hour to free an 17-year-old woman from the wreckage of a hatchback.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter airlifted, the patient to John Hunter Hospital suffering head and internal injuries.

The male driver of the other vehicle, a 4WD, escaped injury; he has been taken for mandatory testing.