Bermuda national footballer Randy Swan died yesterday morning after a horrific car accident on Thursday.

The 24-year old's friend Duval Smith, 27, was the driver of the car Mr. Swan was travelling in. He remained in the intensive care unit at Press time last night.

The tragedy of the rising young star's death was made only more heart-breaking on Saturday when his family received the news that he had won a football scholarship to attend university overseas.

Randy Swan's mother Donna-Mae Swan told ZBM last night why her son died.

"It was his brain. His brain gave out," she said. "He was on life support."

"There were a few attempts to get him off life support, so we had to make a decision last night."

She said her son's life-support was switched off early yesterday morning.

"I got a phone call, so we all went down there.

"He did not have much time left. I knew it."

When she was unable to speak through her tears, Mr. Swan's grandmother Glenda Walker spoke.

Mrs. Walker called her grandson a "jolly, happy person".

She also said her grandson asked for permission to go to God.

"God was there (in the hospital room)," she said. "I had to sit on the bed and relax".

Mrs. Swan said they wanted to donate her son's organs after he died but it was too late.

"They were no good. We would have, but it was too late, they were no good," she said.

Tributes and sympathy poured in for Mr. Swan's family yesterday as Bermudians rallied around them in support.

According to a statement from the Bermuda Police Service, Mr. Swan succumbed to head injuries in the hospital.

He was pronounced dead at 11.30 a.m. yesterday by an on-call physician in the intensive care unit.

The Police Service offered its sincere condolences to Mr. Swan's family.

Police are also still appealing for witnesses to the accident, which took place around 1 a.m. on South Road in Southampton, near the Southampton Rangers Club. It is believed the pair were celebrating their birthdays that evening.

Anyone who saw Mr. Swan or Mr. Smith after 10.30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 15 or anyone who saw a grey Renault Clio travelling east on South Road shortly after midnight, is asked to contact P.c. Karema Flood on 295-0011 or 777-0999.

Mr. Swan's death marked the seventh road fatality of 2004.