Two young men and a woman died when their car crashed during a police pursuit yesterday. Another woman is in a critical condition in hospital.

Greater Manchester Police said that a police patrol car had attempted to stop a Vauxhall Vectra in Oldham town centre, but the driver drove off and the officer followed. The suspect vehicle is believed to have struck three garden walls and turned over before bursting into flames.

Superintendent Alan Greene said that the victims appeared to be “quite young” and that the speeds involved were very high. “The vehicle was going at considerable speed, so much so that the police car could not keep up with it,” he said.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the crash, which happened soon after 3.30am.

Paul Kelly, 40, a warehouse manager who lives about 100 yards from the scene, said that he was woken up by an explosion. He said: “It was so loud I thought something had come into my house. I ran to the window and could see the car in flames. There is a rise in the road as you make a right turn, and it looks like the driver has lost control, hit the kerb and spun round and overturned.”

Matthew Tipton, 28, who plays for the semi-professional Droylsden Football Club, said: “I was woken up by police sirens, then seconds later I heard a really loud explosion.”

In a separate incident, a man was killed when the car that he was travelling in crashed while being followed by police on a motorway.

The man, who is thought to have been a passenger, was killed when the Vauxhall Corsa left the carriageway of the M1 northbound at junction 29a, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, and hit a bank early yesterday.

The driver and another passenger were arrested near the scene.

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