TWO students from a Winchester college are believed to have died in a crash in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Police confirmed that the female driver and passenger, both aged 18, one from Basingstoke and the other from Hook, died at the scene of the single-vehicle collision on the A30 near Basingstoke.

It is thought the pair were both students at Peter Symonds College, although their identity has not been released.

College principal Stephen Carville, who confirmed two students had died in a crash overnight, said: “We are deeply saddened to hear of the loss of two of our students. They both had such bright futures ahead of them. We will be doing our very best to support our students.

“In time, we will talk to the students and parents about the best way that we can celebrate the lives of these girls and find some way of creating a lasting memorial.”

Emergency services were called to the scene of the crash just before 5am after a member of the public discovered a car had hit a tree.

The white Fiat 500 had crashed into the trees just past The Hatch pub on the A30 eastbound in Basingstoke.

An investigation is underway and their next of kin have been informed.

Hampshire Police sergeant Andy Noble said: “We are working hard to establish exactly what happened to cause this collision.

“At this stage we do not know what time the collision happened, so we would like to hear from anyone who drove eastbound along that road between 9.50pm last night and 5am this morning.

“We particularly want to speak to anyone who has done that journey who has a dash cam, as we believe this will help us to narrow down the time of the incident.

“We would also like to speak to anyone who saw a white Fiat 500 driving in the area between those times, so please get in touch.”

Anyone with information can call 101, quoting reference number 44180114591, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.