A man and woman in a vehicle that sped away from a police traffic stop died in a head-on collision in Hilo on Thursday.

Police said that at about 12:45 p.m. a man reported his car stolen from Kekaulike Street in downtown Hilo and that a friend who had been sleeping in it might have been kidnapped.

A police officer later made a traffic stop of the vehicle at Kaumana Drive and Mohouli Street Extension, police said.

The officer left his vehicle and was approaching the car when it sped off south, police said. The officer then returned to his vehicle and pursued the car.

Police said the officer momentarily lost sight of the vehicle and then spotted two crashed sedans, one of which was the stolen vehicle.

A witness said that the stolen vehicle had crossed the centerline, slid into the other sedan and then overturned on Mohouli Street Extension near Kukuau Street.

Police said its two occupants were pronounced dead at the scene. They were not identified Thursday. Autopsies will be conducted to determine causes of death.

A 39-year-old Keaau woman in the other vehicle was taken to Hilo Medical Center in critical condition.

Police said a man who had been sleeping in the vehicle reported as stolen managed to jump out of it before the man and woman drove off in it.

Police ask that anyone who witnessed the crash to call the Hawaii County Police Department’s nonemergency line, 935-3311, or contact acting Lt. Grant Todd, 961-2385 or grant.todd@hawaiicounty.gov.