A TEENAGER is today fighting for his life after being knocked from his bicycle in a road crash.

A-level student Jegan Kandiah, 17, should have been attending an interview at Cambridge University today, but instead is lying in a coma in Southampton General Hospital.

The straight-A student, a pupil at Eastleigh's Barton Peveril College, broke several bones, including his arm, leg and collar bone, following the collision on Friday night in Woodside Avenue, Eastleigh.

Doctors are hoping the teenager has not suffered any permanent damage when they wake him from the medically induced coma later today, his friend Simon Ward told the Daily Echo.

The popular youngster, a member of the 1216 (Eastleigh) Squadron, Air Training Corps, was cycling along the southbound carriageway of the road to the air cadets centre when he was in collision with a silver Ford Galaxy.

Simon, 17, a fellow cadet member, of Desborough Road, said: "It was a horrific accident, but Jegan is a strong person. I phoned the emergency services as soon as possible and I know that he is now in the hands of Hampshire's finest.

"He's still stable and not much has changed but he's got a fair few breaks. The doctors are more worried about his brain as he is in an induced coma at the moment but they are hoping to bring him back round today.

"His parents are coping with it quite well but obviously it is a big shock to them. His dad is staying with him at the hospital but they are quite worried.

"He is a very intelligent young man. We are just all hoping he gets through this. As a friend and fellow cadet I wish Jegan all the best, as do the rest of 1216 squadron."

It is understood the youngster had to be freed from the wreckage after being trapped under a car and was resuscitated by medics after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Woodside Avenue is near one of the busiest junctions on the approach to the town centre and leads in and out of the giant Boyatt Wood industrial and residential estate.

The accident happened at 7pm opposite the Halfords and Comet superstores.

A spokesman confirmed the driver of the Ford Galaxy has assisted police with their inquiries.

Police are particularly keen to speak to the drivers of two cars who were believed to have been directly behind the Ford Galaxy at the time of the collision.

Anyone with information should call the inquiry team at Totton Road Policing Unit on 0845 045 4545.