A 16-year-old girl continues to battle critical injuries after the car she was riding in collided with a pickup truck and then slammed into a light standard on Hazeldean Road in west Ottawa.

Four other teens suffered various non life-threatening injuries. Police have not released any names, although the girl is sometimes identified as "Mackenzie" by friends at All Saints Catholic High School in Kanata, where the student body is coming together to pray for their friends. At least some of the teens are from the school.

"This morning we prayed over the announcements and there is a team from the board along with our counsellors available to students," Principal Brid McDonald said on Friday.

Crash nearly knocked down pole

The crash occurred at the intersection of Hazeldean Road and Carbrooke Street at about 3:15 p.m. Thursday. Police said the cause of the collision seems to be driver error.

"The best we can understand at this point is the pickup truck was heading westbound on Hazeldean. The Toyota was heading eastbound and was attempting to do a left turn in front of the pickup truck, which tried to stop but couldn't," Const. Alain Boucher told CTV Ottawa on Thursday night.

The impact of the crash sent the teens' Toyota Camry spinning into a nearby pole, nearly knocking it over.

A 16-year-old girl was the most critically injured, suffering life-threatening injuries to her head and chest. She was unconscious when paramedics arrived at the scene, and was transported to hospital by air ambulance.

"I saw one teenager lying on the floor and I saw a lot of people watching them and trying to help," said area resident Noolid Foster.

One man's sister is a close friend of the most seriously injured victim; he asked his name not be released to the public.

"She was obviously upset, couldn't go to school today, really. She went to the hospital last night and stayed there until 3 in the morning."

Some teens released from hospital

The 18-year-old male driver and a female, age 15, were released from hospital while a 17-year-old female remained in stable condition. It is unknown what the condition is of a 17-year-old male, but as of yesterday it as determined to be non-life threatening.

The 25-year-old pickup driver was uninjured in the collision. Police have released no names in relation to the crash.

Anyone with information about the collision is asked to contact Ottawa police at 613-236-1222, ext. 2481.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Stefan Keyes