KUCHING: A teenager, who had just celebrated his 17th birthday last month, died yesterday when the car he was driving hit a lamp post and overturned several times.

The victim has been identified as Lim Chien Yang of Jalan Kung Ping, near Mile 4 1/2 Penrissen Road.

The incident happened around 1am along Jalan Lapangan Terbang when Lim, who was driving a Perodua Kenari, lost control of his vehicle along the road which was wet as a result of intermittent showers.

FATAL CRASH: Firemen in the process of freeing Lim’s body from the badly-wrecked Kenari.

According to a motorcyclist, who was travelling in the same direction as the victim, the Kenari driven by Lim had just overtaken him moments before it spun out of control.

“He was driving pretty fast. He overtook me from my left and cut to the right in front of me before going out of control and striking a lamp post,” said the motorcyclist, who wished to remain anonymous, adding that the Kenari overturned several times before it came to a halt.

Fire Department personnel, together with paramedics, rushed to the scene after a distress call was received.

It took firemen about 15 minutes to extricate Lim, who only turned 17 on Dec 1, from the badly-mangled vehicle before waiting paramedics checked and pronounced him dead.

The victim was believed to have died instantly as a result of serious head and internal body injuries.

Several members of his family arrived at the scene to identify the body, which was later sent to Sarawak General Hospital for a post-mortem by traffic police personnel.