LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. -- Four teenagers suffered severe injuries when the sports utility vehicle they were riding in left West Main Road around 3 p.m. Friday and hit a tree.
Firefighter James Vandal, who was in charge of the rescue operation, said the youths appeared to have been traveling north when their vehicle left the road in the area of the 300 block.
He said firefighters had to extricate two of the youths from the heavily-damaged vehicle, and that all four were taken to Rhode Island Hospital - two by ambulance and two by helicopter.
A spokesman at Rhode Island Hospital confirmed the hospital received a number of patients by helicopter Friday afternoon and that one of the injuries appeared life-threatening.
Vandal said all the teens were "from the area."
This updates an item originally posted at 5:13 p.m.