A TEENAGE car passenger has died after a car he was travelling in was involved in a high-speed collision in Bradford.

The red Volkswagen Golf was being driven at high speed along Gilpin Street when it hit a parked car, a lamppost, and one of the walls of St Clement’s Church in Barkerend.

A 16-year-old back seat passenger was critically injured and was taken to Leeds General Infirmary where he died at about 5pm, police said.

A second male, thought to be a passenger in the front seat, was also taken to hospital with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

Police were last night still hunting for the driver, who according to witnesses, fled the scene after being picked up in a silver Volkswagen.

The incident happened just after 11am yesterday, with police cordoning off sections of Gilpin Street, Feather Road, and Webster Street.

Witnesses said the car was travelling at high speed before the collision, describing the three occupants as being aged between 14 and 18-years-old. The crashed Volkswagen ended up on a driveway next to the church with significant damage to its front and left-hand side and its back window smashed.

One witness said: “The first I heard was a screeching of brakes and then a loud bang, almost like a bomb blast.

“They lost control, and must have been doing more than 70 miles an hour when it happened.”

Another man said he had tried to convince the driver of the car to stay at the scene, but said he flagged down a silver Volkswagen and was driven away.