Three teenage girls injured following a serious crash in a quiet village are in a stable condition.

The friends were on their way to the beach when they were involved in a collision with another car in Chart Sutton, near Maidstone, yesterday.

Emergency services, including hazardous area response teams, were called to Warmlake Road at around 3pm.

Firefighters cut the roof off one of the vehicles, which was carrying four teenage girls, to release three passengers who were trapped.

Paramedics worked on the patients at the roadside for more than an hour before taking them to hospital.

Passenger Courtney Wild was taken to King's College Hospital in London with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

The 18-year-old was left with a broken wrist, shattered pelvis bone, broken ankle and a broken leg. She is in a stable condition and will undergo surgery today.

Speaking from her hospital bed, she said: "Thanks to everyone for your lovely messages. Got three operations this morning. It's the most pain I've been in but I will pull through."

The two other victims - Honour Wheeler and Maria Skinner - were taken to Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury with head and chest injuries.

The car's driver - Whitney Wilsher - wasn't injured.

One other person who was thought to be the driver of the other car suffered minor injuries and received treatment at the scene.

The group was on their way to pick up another friend - Megan D'Rozario - from her home near Ashford. She received a call and rushed to the scene.

The group of friends grew up in Maidstone and attended The Maplesden Noakes and Valley Park secondary schools.

Police are not treating the collision as suspicious and no-one was arrested.

The road was closed while the cars were recovered. It reopened shortly after 6.30pm.