SYDNEY, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A child has died and six others have been hospitalized following a collision between two cars north of Sydney.

Police in Australia's state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Thursday that emergency services were called after the two cars collided on a highway near the town of Murulla, 225 kilometers north of Sydney in the Hunter region, on Wednesday morning.

An 11-year-old boy was airlifted from the scene to hospital with critical injuries and later died.

He was one of six occupants of one of the vehicles involved in the crash. The remaining five occupants, including two women aged 38 and 60, a 13-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old male, were treated by ambulance paramedics before being taken to the same hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the second vehicle, a man aged 85, sustained minor injuries and was taken to hospital for mandatory testing.

Police have commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash. ■