A 17-YEAR-OLD boy from Malvern has died after a crash.

He is believed to have been a passenger as a VW Golf smashed into a row of parked cars and a lamppost. 

Police are hunting a driver who fled the scene of the crash in Palfrey, Walsall at 12.10am this morning (Thursday).

West Midlands Police said two 14-year-old girls travelling in a Volkswagen Golf were injured when it ploughed into parked vehicles in Palfrey, Walsall, at 12.10am on Thursday.

The 17-year-old victim, from Malvern was a passenger in the car and was found collapsed nearby with a serious head injury, but pronounced dead in hospital.

One of the female passengers suffered a broken arm.

The suspected driver of the Golf is thought to have left the scene.

At the scene, in a residential area with a 30mph limit, shocked residents described hearing the screeching of tyres, then a loud bang, likened to “a bomb” going off.

Debris, broken glass, skid marks and the buckled body panels of several vehicles show where the Golf crashed into at least three other cars in Weston Street, before coming to rest in the middle of the road.

Video footage taken by stunned residents showed the shattered remains of the Volkswagen – left wrecked in the middle of the road – as paramedics worked desperately nearby to save the fatally injured teenager.

Mother-of-one, Shamima Begum, said she heard a “massive bang” and looked out the window to see the wreckage.

She said it was the third accident on the road in the year since she moved onto the street.

Two eyewitnesses have described how they were saved by a cigarette lighter.

Work colleagues Sanu Ullah, 40, and Emad Ahmed has just woken up, when they described seeing the Golf skidding towards their car.

Mr Ahmed, being dropped off by Mr Ullah, had gone to his front door just moments before, but went back to the car to borrow a lighter from his friend.

It delayed restaurant boss Mr Ullah pulling away, into what would have been the path of the Golf, the men said.

Instead their Seat Alhmabra was scraped in a glancing blow, with the Golf then ploughing into the back of a stationary Vauxhall Vectra, on the opposite side of the road.

Mr Ahmed, 39, said: “We were very lucky – if I didn’t ask for the lighter my friend was just about to pull out, if I didn’t stop him pulling out, it would have been life-threatening for us.”

Mr Ullah said: “I was dropping him off, and as I looked up I heard this car, he and he must have been coming at 60-70mph towards us.

“A car came from the junction, to his left, and he pulled round it and as he did he just seemed to lose control and went straight into the car parked in front of us, then scraped the side of my car.

“It was a really loud bang, like a bomb.”

He then saw the driver fleeing the scene.

Mr Ullah said: “He got out the car, went over to where the injured man was, and he was still breathing.

“The driver went over, looked at him lying there, and shook his head, and then he went over to the car, and then came back to look at the guy again, but by the time the police came he was gone.”

He added: “I’ve never seen an accident like that before – we’re very lucky.”

Detective sergeant Paul Hughes from West Midlands Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit is appealing for anyone who saw the collision and has not yet spoken to police to get in touch. 

He added: “We’re working to understand what happened in the build-up to the collision so if anyone saw the VW Golf in Weston Street or the surrounding area just after midnight then please call or email.

"You could have really important information to assist our enquiries.

“This is a tragic incident in which a teenager has lost his life and our thoughts are with his family at this tragic time.

“We are doing all we can to trace the driver.

"It’s only a matter of time before we catch up with him so I would urge that person to do the right thing and come and speak to us so they can explain what happened.”

Anyone with information on the driver, or who witnessed the collision call the Serious Collision Investigation Unit at West Midlands Police on 101 or email FL. COLLISION _INVEST@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk quoting log 36 from August 2.