A 17-year-old girl died last night and two boys aged 11 and 16 were left with serious injuries after two separate car accidents in Bradford.

The teenage girl suffered fatal injuries as she crossed Tong Street with the 16-year-old boy at 4.15pm yesterday.

They were in an accident with a van near the junction of Knowles Lane and both were taken by ambulance to Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Efforts by medical staff to save the girl failed and she was pronounced dead at the hospital. The 16-year-old boy remained in a “serious” condition last night.

Councillor Alan Wainwright (Lab, Tong), in whose ward the tragedy occurred, said: “I am aware that, very sadly, the girl has died. It is awful. My heart goes out to them.”

Meanwhile, the family of an 11-year-old boy, named locally as Luckman Hussain, were keeping a bedside vigil after he suffered major injuries as he and a friend crossed Barkerend Road, Bradford Moor.

His friend, who is believed to be in his early teens, escaped serious injury but Luckman fell unconscious following the collision with a white Toyota Aygo, shortly before 4pm yesterday.

He was taken by ambulance to BRI where he remained in a “serious” condition police said.

Luckman, a pupil at Bradford Moor Primary School, had been returning to his home with his friend, named locally as Ali, when the collision happened.

He remained conscious on the ground and Ali ran for help to his friend’s parents’ house in Barkerend Road.

Luckman later lost consciousness and was put in the back of an ambulance and taken to hospital.

Police closed off Barkerend Road, near its junction with Killinghall Road and re-directed traffic down side streets. The driver of the Toyota stopped at the scene.

Mohammed Ballal, 25, was working in his family business, Kashmiri Bazaar, near the scene at the time of the accident.

He said: "It was quite shocking. There were two or three ambulances and seven or eight police cars. The road was closed for a long time."

His colleague, Sohaib Hussan, 19, said: “When we went outside, the police were there so we just saw what happened afterwards.

“We know the child, he lives across the road from us. We speak to him now and then when we see him in the street. He’s from a nice family.”

The accidents caused huge traffic jams during rush hour on major routes from Bradford city centre.

Police closed off one lane of Wakefield Road, leading to long tailbacks for more than two hours.

Barkerend Road was also closed for more than three hours while police re-directed traffic.