Friends advised Yeo Ken How, a Secondary 4 student of Bedok South Secondary School, not to take the risk but he did not listen.

Yesterday afternoon(September 1st), the first day of the one-week school break, he sneaked a drive in his brother's Suzuki Swift.

It would be his last.

And in a twist of fate, two schoolmates who had warned him several times not to drive chanced upon the crash site, immediately recognised the car and had their worst fears confirmed.

It was not clear where Ken How was headed, but around 1.30pm, he lost control of the blue Suzuki Swift along Bedok South Road and slammed into a tree.

The impact of the accident crushed the driver's side of the car, killing the boy instantly. He was alone in the car.

His body had to be extricated from the mangled wreckage by Singapore Civil Defence Force officers using hydraulic cutters.

The crash site was just 2km away from Ken How's home at Bedok North Street 1.

By chance, two of his close friends were on a bus to Parkway Parade at about 3pm when they passed the crash site.

They recognised the car, alighted immediately and received the news they dreaded.

One of them, March Chua, 16, broke down when police told her who the victim was.

Holding back tears, she said: 'I advised him not to drive the car because it's dangerous, but he wouldn't listen.'

She said she regarded Ken How as her confidant and added that she had seen him at the wheel of the car on a number of occasions over the past few months, ferrying friends around.

Secondary 2 student Quek Su Yin, 14, had also seen him driving around, and told him not to.

But, he added: 'He looked quite stable whenever I saw him drive.'

Ken How, who was two years away from being legally allowed to apply for a driving licence, was known to be fond of cars, often spending his time working on model kits.

His friends described him as a 'very bright boy' who would always be ready to help them when the need arose.

He was to sit for his O-level exams in just over a month's time.

The car belonged to his older brother, who is in Australia training to become a Singapore Airlines pilot.

When The Straits Times arrived at Ken How's home at about 4pm, his mother, Madam Yeo, was seen leaving the house.

She said that she had received a call a few hours earlier from someone informing her that her son had died.

'I thought it was a nuisance call, so I scolded the person and hung up,' she said.

Even when the police called her later, she initially refused to believe it, thinking it was someone else.

The news only hit home later.

In a quavering voice, she simply said: 'I didn't know he could drive.'

The housewife, believed to be in her 50s, said that she did not know Ken How had left the house as she had gone out early in the morning.

She then rushed off.

A neighbour told The Straits Times that she had seen Ken How walk past her flat, dressed in a dark T-shirt and shorts, at about 9am.

Bedok South Secondary School principal Krishnan Aravinthan said the school was saddened to learn about Ken How's death.

He said: 'The school is helping affected students and staff to cope with the incident.'