A nine-month-old girl is among three children and five adults injured in a collision between two motorised buggies on Hamilton Island off the north Queensland coast.

The baby girl suffered head and facial injuries and was flown to the Townsville Hospital in a critical but stable condition, along with a 30-year-old woman who had head injuries and lower leg fractures.

• A pro-gun activist has been shot by her own child
• Driver allegedly clocks 150km/h with baby on board

A 35-year-old woman suffering facial injuries and a 67-year-old man with leg fractures were airlifted to Mackay Hospital.

A six-seater and a four-seater buggy collided about 8:30am on the Whitsunday island, where buggies are the main form of transport on the sealed roads.

The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) said other injuries ranged from head, chest and leg wounds to lacerations and bruising.

The QAS said four patients were taken to Proserpine Hospital – a two-year-old boy and another nine-month old girl with no obvious injuries, a 34-year-old man with a minor leg laceration, and a 36-year-old man with back pain.

A person who saw the crash is being treated for shock.

Wayne Paxton from the Queensland Ambulance Service said a woman, believed to be the mother of one of the babies, had also been seriously injured.

“We have one person who has got a closed head injury … that will be flown by rescue helicopter up to Townsville,” he said.

In a statement, a Hamilton Island spokeswoman said management was working closely with the Queensland Police Service to investigate the incident.