A YOUNG woman was killed in the New Forest last night when a car careered off the road and smashed into a tree.

The 20-year-old victim was a passenger in a Ford Fiesta that was travelling along Winsor Road, in Winsor, when it went out of control.

Both occupants of the car were trapped in the wreckage and had to be cut free by Hampshire firefighters.

The car was being driven by a 19-year-old Southampton woman who suffered serious injuries and was taken to Southampton General Hospital.

Her passenger, who came from Totton, is understood to have died instantly and was pronounced dead at the roadside.

Crews from Totton, Redbridge and St Mary's in Southampton, were called to the scene after the accident happened just before 9pm.

Winsor Road was closed until 4.05am while police carried out an investigation.

The Fiesta was travelling towards Cadnam when the accident happened 50 yards west of Winsor Road's junction with Winsor Lane.

A witness said: "The car appears to have hit the tree with considerable force because the impact pushed the front of the vehicle right in.

"Firefighters freed the injured driver and returned later to release the body of the passenger."

The name of the dead woman will not be released until her relatives have been informed.

It was the second fatal accident in the parish in the past three months.

Last November long-distance cyclist John Morris, 58, was riding along Furzley Road, Newbridge, when he was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

The retired police sergeant was returning to his home at Wood Road, Ashurst, when the collision occurred.

A pensioner from the Andover area was later arrested by police and released on bail, pending further inquiries.