SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — Three people suffered critical injuries in a two-vehicle crash Friday morning at the intersection of Route 8 and Branchton Road, according to state police.

A 19-year-old Cranberry Township man was driving on Branchton Road with four passengers in his car at about 4:45 a.m.

His vehicle crossed the intersection and collided with a pickup truck driven by a 55-year-old Marion Township man traveling northbound on Route 8.

Two backseat passengers in the car were flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital, while four others involved in the crash were treated at the scene and taken by ambulance to local hospitals.

All three passengers in the back of the car were critically injured, police said. They included a 21-year-old woman from Wexford, a 21-year-old Butler man, and a third person with an unknown age and address.

Slippery Rock Fire Chief Ken Taggart said at the scene that two medical helicopters landed at the Unionville Volunteer Fire Department’s landing zone to transport two victims who suffered life-threatening injuries.

Neither the names of the victims nor updates on their conditions were available Saturday morning.

The driver of the car and a front seat passenger — an 18-year-old woman from Fox Chapel — suffered moderate injuries, police said.

The driver of the pickup’s condition was not released.

The Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Department used extrication tools on the car, Taggart said.

The car crashed into a grassy hillside facing west following the collision. The pickup truck stopped facing northbound in a ditch on the southbound side of Route 8.

Traffic was stopped in both directions on both routes for multiple hours following the crash while state police conducted an investigation.

The stretch of Route 8 is open to local traffic only due to a state Department of Transportation bridge replacement project about 4 miles south of the intersection.

Flashing caution lights direct traffic at the intersection, with Branchton Road traffic responsible for yielding to Route 8 vehicles.

Butler and Superior ambulances assisted the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Department and EMS at the scene.

A fatal accident involving a family of five occurred at the Route 8 and Branchton Road intersection more than a decade ago.

On July 7, 2003, a Ejub Grcic, a Bosnian-born trucker, ran a stop sign on Branchton Road.

Grcic’s overweight tractor-trailer struck a car, killing a North Carolina family who was visiting family in the county.

Grcic was sentenced to 30 months in state prison followed by 7½ years of probation.