SYDNEY, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Six teenagers have been hospitalized after a stolen car crashed during a police chase north of Sydney in Australia's state of New South Wales (NSW).

A police statement said on Wednesday that officers were conducting a routine patrol in Millers Forest, about 130 km north of Sydney near the city of Newcastle, at about 4:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday when they spotted a car that had been reported stolen.

A pursuit was initiated when the car failed to stop when directed by police but ended shortly later when the vehicle left the road and crashed.

Officers rendered assistance to six occupants, all believed to be teenagers, before they were transported to hospital by ambulance paramedics with injuries not considered life-threatening.

Subsequent inquiries revealed that the car was stolen during an aggravated break-and-enter at a nearby home.

Police said that a 15-year-old boy was believed to have been driving at the time of the crash. ■