Four men have died in a crash between a car and a taxi in Leeds.

Emergency services were called to Broadway near the junction with Bank Gardens in Horsforth at around 2.41am on Saturday.

The victims, two of whom were aged 19, another 18 and a fourth 21, were pronounced dead at the scene.

They were among six people in a grey Seat Leon car which may have been travelling at speed at the time of the crash, West Yorkshire Police said.

The car was travelling in the direction of Weetwood, while the private hire vehicle was heading in the opposite direction on the A6120 Leeds Outer Ring Road, the force said.

A 16-year-old girl who was also travelling in the Leon is in a critical condition in hospital, while another female, aged 17, sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

A 42-year-old man from Bradford who was driving the taxi, a grey Seat Alhambra people carrier, was also taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Sergeant Fiona Hoodless, of West Yorkshire Police’s major collision inquiry team, described the incident as “very tragic”.

She said: “We are carrying out extensive inquiries to establish the full circumstances surrounding this incident and that investigation is still at a very early stage.

“Early indications are that the Leon was travelling at speed at the time of the collision.

“We would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the collision itself or saw the circumstances leading up to it.

“We are also keen to speak to anyone who saw the silver Seat Leon being driven in the area at any point prior to the collision, particularly anyone with dashcam footage that could assist the investigation.”

Counsellor Steph Callaghan, 31, said it was in the early hours of the morning when she heard “quite a loud car which sounded like it was travelling at speed” crashing outside her home.

The mother-of-two, who is expecting her third child, went outside but stood away from the crash site.

She said: “I went outside and could not see really well – there were so many vehicles involved. It was such a mangle.

“There was a man  – I think it was the taxi driver –  shouting for an ambulance and saying there was a lot of blood.”

She said a woman managed to crawl out from the crash and that dozens of emergency vehicles were at the scene.

She added: “I really hope they are going to put in some speed cameras or do about this road. It is a wide road and maybe at night it seems like it is ok to drive down but there are other vehicles.”

Looking outside her home later, she said: “It is all very sad. There are many people outside with flowers. It is so sad.”