As many as 12 British soldiers have been injured in a six-car crash in Estonia.

The troops, out in the Baltic state on a Nato training exercise, had been travelling in a convoy of minibuses on Sunday when the pile-up happened.

It's understood that the soldiers were being driven through blizzard conditions some 20 miles from the Russian border when their vehicles slammed into an existing pile-up of civilian cars at a crossroads.

Five civilians were also injured.

Twelve British soldiers have been injured in the pile-up

Local media reports allege that a 37-year-old woman had turned across the road in a Volvo S80 and hit a BMW 530D, driven by a 62-year-old woman.

Meanwhile, the Army convoy was made up of three Toyota people-carriers whose drivers were unable to stop in the wintry conditions.

A Mercedes Sprinter van travelling in the opposite direction was also involved in the crash.

After the pile-up, the RAF scrambled a C-17 Globemaster medical evacuation jet with an on-board intensive care unit to the scene.

he RAF scrambled a C-17 Globemaster medical evacuation jet to the scene

Images from nearby show a throng of ambulances crowded around the rear of the RAF medevac jet

Air Force medics then picked up the injured personnel from Estonian capital Tallinn and flew them to Birmingham Airport.

The soldiers were transferred to the West Midlands city's Queen Elizabeth Hospital - which houses the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine.