A 16-year-old boy is dead and five other teens have been injured after a car rolled on a major Northern Territory highway in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The fatal crash occurred after the stolen vehicle's occupants attempted to provoke officers and threw a hammer and other objects that damaged a patrol car at Katherine, police said.
The car rolled on the Stuart Highway north of the Katherine CBD about 6am on Tuesday, critically injuring the 16-year-old.
He died at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics to save him, police said.
Three injured 14-year-olds - two boys and a girl - were taken to hospital in a stable condition.
With the assistance of a drone, officers later found two other girls - believed to have been in the car - in nearby bushland and they were also taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
NT police said a vehicle was stolen from a Katherine property late on Monday then abandoned at Charles Darwin University before two other cars were stolen.
Throughout the evening the vehicles were observed driving erratically through the Katherine CBD, Acting Commander Mark Grieve said.
The occupants allegedly targeted parked police vehicles and threw objects including a hammer that damaged one of the patrol cars.
"Due to the dangerous manner of driving, officers did not engage in a pursuit of the vehicle at any stage," police said.
Parts of the Stuart Highway remained closed on Tuesday morning as major crash and criminal investigations continued.
Acting Commander Grieve said the incident was tragic and complex.
"Certainly parental responsibility comes to the fore and socio-economic issues," he told reporters in Darwin on Tuesday.
"We are investigating a significant series of offences, as well as the death of a 16-year-old male following extremely dangerous driving behaviour that placed the lives of the community at risk."
The theft of vehicles and other criminal behaviour by youths was a nationwide problem that needed a whole-of-community approach, he said.
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