Two people were taken to hospital last night with suspected head and chest injuries after their car left the road and overturned into a north-east field.
The driver and a fellow passenger had to be cut free from their Honda Civic after the vehicle landed on its roof upon hurtling from the carriageway.
The incident happened as they travelled along the B9022 road at Dykehead, near Portsoy, at about 8.40pm.
As the emergency services arrived on the scene, the road was closed in both directions and remained shut for nearly two hours.
A spokeswoman for the fire service confirmed that crews used hydraulic cutting equipment to free the two trapped motorists.
She said: “We had an update at about 9.30pm to say that both casualties had been removed from the car and transferred into the care of paramedics before being taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.”
A police spokesman added that the injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.
He said: “The driver and a passenger have been taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, understood to be to the head and chest area.”
The road was reopened at about 10.20pm, as the force confirmed that it was closed only “due to the volume of emergency vehicles” in the vicinity of the crash.