Two badly injured police officers had to be cut free from their unmarked vehicle after it was in collision with a stolen car and then ploughed into a bail hostel.

The two officers and two suspects were last night being treated in hospital for serious, but not life-threatening injuries, after the smash near Cleckheaton town centre yesterday.

The crash happened shortly after 3am as the unmarked silver police BMW was searching the area for a black Audi A3 wanted by police.

The police car and Audi collided at the junction of Bradford Road, Northgate and Scott Lane, then smashed through the wall of the bail hostel.

A police spokesman said there had been no chase and the two vehicles had been coming from different directions.

The driver of the Audi, a 23-year-old Bradford man, fled the scene and was later caught by the police’s dog unit nearby and arrested. He was taken to Pinderfields Hospital.

Firefighters, police and paramedics mounted a painstaking four-hour operation to rescue the two police officers from the car and a passenger from the Audi, while preventing the building from collapsing.

The injured policemen – one of whom is a volunteer Special Constable – had to be cut out of their car and were taken to Leeds General Infirmary.

A passenger in the Audi, a 25-year-old Bradford man, also had to be cut free. He was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary, and has been arrested. No-one in the bail hostel was injured.

A police spokesman said a separate police team had tried to stop the Audi a short time earlier in nearby Scholes, but it had made off. He said the car had since been confirmed as being stolen in Thackley, Bradford.

Neighbour Anne Clark was woken by the crash. She said it was “incredible” the police officers had survived.

Another resident, Jennifer Flamholt, said: “It did look bad. I saw it from the bedroom window. I’ve never seen as many emergency services at one time.”

A specialist fire and rescue team from Cleckheaton had to shore up the side of the bail hostel to stop it from collapsing.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Probation said the suspects arrested were not from the hostel. Operations manager Simon Fraser said as soon as the crash happened, workers moved all residents to an unaffected part of the building.

He said: “I cannot praise my colleagues highly enough. They were professional, calm and worked quickly to ensure that residents were safe, that they understood what had happened and what they needed to do to make sure everyone was safe immediately and in the longer term while building work is being done.”

Mr Fraser said the damage was to a non-residential part of the building, but it has left the area structurally unsafe, so nine bedrooms were out of action and some people were being rehomed. He said repairs would begin as quickly as possible, but that “significant work” was required.