A TEENAGE girl died after being cut free from the wreckage of car which smashed into a taxi near Crook last Friday night.

Rear seat passenger Lynsey Richards, 17, from Snowdrop Way, Etherley Dene, Bishop Auckland, suffered internal injuries in the accident just before 11.30pm, and was later certified dead at the University Hospital of North Durham.

Amazingly three other young people in the red Vauxhall Nova car escaped with minor injuries including the 18-year-old driver, who was breathalised in accordance with normal police procedure.

Police said the driver, who is from Hamsterley Colliery, near Consett, had lost control of the Nova on a bend on the A689 known as New Road near the Woolff Lyndsay Carpet Mills as he drove south towards Howden-le-Wear.

They said there was a 'massive impact' when the car crossed the road into the path of the blue Rover taxi, which was travelling towards Crook. The taxi's 37-year-old driver, who lives in Crook, was not seriously hurt.

Both the Nova's driver and another rear seat passenger, an 18-year-old man from Sunnybrow, near Crook, were detained in the University Hospital.

The front seat passenger, a 16-year-old girl also from Etherley Dene, was released after treatment. The road was closed until 3am.

Police accident investigators are appealing for witnesses to the accident. Contact them at Aykley Heads on (0191) 386 4929.