Two pedestrians were injured, one critically, yesterday after they were hit by a van, which veered off the road and mounted the pavement.

The van, driven by a 38-year-old, crashed into an electricity pole, after it had been hit by another vehicle whose driver lost control, the police said.

The pedestrians, both women from Marsaxlokk, were standing on the pavement next to the electricity pole when the accident took place. A 50-year-old woman is in a critical condition while a 53-year-old sustained slight injuries. Neither of the drivers was injured.

In a separate accident, a woman and two children were injured in a head-on collision between two cars at Triq il-Marina, Kalkara.

The police said the vehicles involved in the collision were a Volkswagen Passat driven by a 30-year-old man from Kalkara and a Toyota Yaris driven by a 36-year-old woman from Tarxien, which went on to crash into a tree.

The woman and the two children in the vehicle were taken to hospital by ambulance but their condition was unknown at the time of going to print.