An appeal to help with medical expenses for a teenager left “fighting for his life” after a crash a week ago has raised $60,000 in just two days.

Friends of 16-year-old David Goonewardene, a sports-loving Warwick Academy student, posted online that he was “a fighter – built of strong and resilient character, yet caring and kind to those around him”.

He was one of four young men in a car that struck a wall along Knapton Hill Road last Monday, near the junction with Idle Acres Road.

Friends on the fundraiser site GoFundMe said David had spent that day with friends and was on his way to one of their homes for a sleepover when the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle.

Emergency medics and firefighters worked to free David from the wreck after finding him unresponsive at the scene.

The fundraiser said “kind and caring” David had been placed in a medically-induced coma in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital because he had sustained head injuries.

Another teenager suffered a leg injury in the crash, and was discharged from hospital after treatment.

David’s close friends, Kolby Martins, Miriam Dill and Katarina Rance, who were behind the fundraiser, wrote that David was “an active sportsman, with a passion for racket sports, in particular tennis and table tennis – and has represented Bermuda overseas at table tennis tournaments”.

They said David’s friends felt “lost and disconnected from one another without him”, adding: “We pray for David’s healing and full recovery, but we know that his road will be very long and very difficult.

“It will take time, effort, energy and the support of many specialists to get David back to doing the things he loves best, including playing sports, working out at the gym, hanging out with his friends and siblings.

“As David’s close friends, we want to help his family in any way that we can. We have chosen to set up this page to try to raise as much money as possible to support his medical expenses and to aid his recovery.”

His family was unavailable yesterday for comment.

But hundreds of supporters chipped in over the Easter weekend to flood the fundraising page with messages of support – with donations far surpassing the initial goal of $15,000.

The message online closed: “Please support us in fighting for David and to help get him back to being the fun, kind and energetic soul we all know.

“He is loved by so many and deserves the to be back in the world with the rest of us.”