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Friends mourn 17yo after fatal crash

Police are investigating whether street racing, alcohol, fatigue or inexperience is to blame for a crash in Sydney that's killed a 17-year-old schoolgirl.

A police car

A !7-year-old girl is dead and a teenage boy has been injured after a car crash in western Sydney. (AAP)

Family and friends of a 17-year-old Sydney schoolgirl who was killed in a horrific car crash have told of their heartache upon waking to the devastating news.

Rhonda Audisho, a P-plate driver, was behind the wheel of a Toyota Corolla that left the road, flipped onto its roof and crashed outside a house in Wetherill Park in Sydney's west, just before 8pm on Monday.

The Year 12 student, who worked part-time at McDonald's, died at the scene.

Her two passengers, a 14-year-old male and 17-year-old girl, managed to free themselves from the wreckage.

Police say the Toyota may have been travelling with a black Mazda-3 driven by a 19-year-old woman, who was travelling with two passengers aged 15 and 16.

Investigators have received information the six teens from both cars may know each other.

Detective Inspector Adam Powderly says police are investigating whether street racing, alcohol, fatigue or inexperience played a part in the fatal crash.

"The destruction caused by the rolling of the vehicle would indicate that the vehicle may have been travelling in excess of the posted speed limit," he told reporters on Tuesday.

The cars and CCTV footage have been seized.

"(These are) absolutely tragic circumstances," he said.

"It's really important that ... parents ... have those road safety talks with their children."

Local residents say they raced from their homes when they heard the crash.

"Heard some cars racing down the street and heard this thud as one of the cars was beginning to roll on the road," witness James Blair told the Nine Network.

"We ran outside and one of the cars had come to a stop in the front garden."

Rhonda's male passenger was taken to Liverpool Hospital with minor injuries, while the girl was uninjured.

The 19-year-old driver of the second car has been interviewed by police.

Rhonda's friends and family have paid tribute on social media.

"I still remember changing ur nappy and rocking you to sleep. I will forever cherish our memories," Rhonda's cousin Ranyah Audisho said on Facebook.

"I saw you driving yesterday and you looked so happy and it made me smile because you grew up to be a very gorgeous good girl," wrote Yvette Youkhana.


3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



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