A Saskatoon police SUV was left mangled after a crash with a semi truck and trailer early Monday morning north of the city.

Police said the east-bound SUV and south-bound semi collided at the intersection of Highway 12 and Township Road 380 just after 3 a.m. near Richie Brothers Auctioneers.

“The driver of [the semi] unit was assessed at the scene and cleared, however, the two officers in the patrol unit were taken by ambulance to the hospital where they remain in serious but not life threatening condition,” said Saskatoon police chief, Troy Cooper.

“I spoke with both those officers early this morning and my understanding is that over the coming hours and days they will be assessed but they are expected to recover fully so we are very grateful to hear that news.”

650 CKOM’s Jay Thomas said pieces of plastic and metal from the wrecked cruiser were littered across the highway. Traffic was restricted for several hours.

EXTREME CRASH: Highway 12 SB at crossroad 380 near Ritchie Brothers Auction. Civilian vehicle and Saskatoon Police Cruiser involved. Only 1 SB lane open on Highway for cleanup. Expect extreme back ups SB @MartensvilleSK#yxe pic.twitter.com/I8A57LmwbH — CKOM Traffic (@ckomtraffic) January 13, 2020

According to Cooper the officers were responding to a call involving a stolen vehicle when the accident occurred.

“My understanding is that they weren’t directly involved with that motor vehicle but they were positioning themselves to assist the other unit that was conducting surveillance of the vehicle at the time,” he said.

Two of our officers were injured in a traffic accident early this morning. They are in hospital recovering and our thoughts are with them and their families. Thank you to the other officers who assisted and to all the front line emergency staff that are caring for them. — Chief Troy Cooper (@Cooper_Chief) January 13, 2020

RCMP are investigating the cause of the crash.

Cooper says they will have more information like whether emergency flashers were on and the speed of the vehicles involved once they get a chance to do their own investigation.

“What we can say is that it was an intersection with a highway so we are assuming highway speeds with regards to the semi trailer unit,” he said.

“We do have technology in our police car that as we review we will be able to tell a little bit more about speeds and other conditions contributed to the accident.”