NEW YORK (AFP) - A young man and his pregnant wife were killed on their way to hospital in Brooklyn early on Sunday when a vehicle struck the car for hire in which they were riding, police said.

The New York Police Department said the couple's baby son, delivered prematurely after his mother's death, survived.

The accident took place shortly after midnight in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of the Brooklyn borough. After crashing into the livery cab, the male driver of the other car - a BMW sedan - and another passenger fled the scene on foot, according to police.

They have not yet been located, and left their vehicle behind.

Emergency workers took the cab driver to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

The victims, Nathan Glauber and Raizi Glauber, were both 21. Although the the initial police report spelled their last name as Gluber, The New York Times cited family friends as saying it was Glauber.

Raizi Glauber, who was sitting behind the driver, was thrown from the livery cab and landed under a parked tractor-trailer, according to the Times.

It said the baby was their first child.

The wife and husband were members of Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community.

They had wed about a year ago.

Nathan Glauber was studying the Bible in school and his wife's family had a diamond business, the Times said, adding that their funeral was set for later Sunday.