A YOUNG woman died today in a horrific road-race accident which left one friend fighting for life and three others injured.

Police believe the accident, which occurred at around 3am near to the Swallow Hotel at Samlesbury on the A59 road out of Blackburn, happened while the high powered Peugeot 205 GTi was racing another vehicle which has not been traced.

The Peugeot, carrying five people believed to be from Darwen, spun out of control, hit the central reservation and rolled over several times.

Ambulance crews found the body of the dead woman trapped underneath it.

An ambulance spokesman said: "A young female was dead, another young female was in a serious condition, two young men had slight injuries and another male suffered severe shock."

All the casualties were taken to the Royal Preston Hospital where the seriously injured woman was today in the intensive care unit.

Police were this morning attempting to trace relatives of the dead woman before releasing any names.

Sergeant Dave Poulter said: "It appears the vehicle went out of control as it reached the dual carriageway near the junction with Vicarage Lane."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.