A motorcyclist was last night fighting for his life in hospital after a horrific road smash yesterday afternoon.

The 20-year-old suffered serious head and leg injuries after he was catapulted more than 20 feet over a wall onto a rocky foreshore following the smash.

And an eyewitness to the aftermath of the crash said: "It was really horrific.

"It was a brutal accident -- I've seen nothing which could come close to it.

"He was lying on his back in the water -- there was blood everywhere and his leg looked very bad.'' As The Royal Gazette went to press, surgeons were understood to be still battling with the victim's horrific injuries.

The man -- who has not been named by Police -- was involved in a collision with a red Subaru J-10 on a sharp corner on North Shore Road near its junction with Fractious Street.

Paramedics had to wade through water to reach the unconscious victim and bring him back to the waiting ambulance.

The injured biker, from Pembroke, was rushed to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for emergency surgery.

Last night a hospital spokeswoma described the man's condition as "serious''.

The woman driver of the car, although shocked, is understood to have been unhurt in the accident, which happened just before 4 p.m.

The man's Honda Scoopy, which was travelling west, was in collision with an oncoming Subaru car, then smashed through a wall and ended up on the foreshore.

The crash caused traffic chaos in the east of the Island, with traffic still backed up hours later from the Causeway to Harrington Sound Road.

Last night a Police spokesman said the cause of the accident was under investigation.

Bermuda's grim toll of death on the roads this year has already reached 17 -- equal to the 1983 total, the highest in recent times.

Transport Minister Ewart Brown said: "Again, we have another serious, if not fatal, road accident.

Dr. Brown added: "And once again, I appeal to Bermuda's motorists to be careful, cautious and responsible.'' Photos by Arthur Bean SMASH SCENE -- The North Shore Road site of a smash involving a motorbike and a car yesterday afternoon which left the 20-year-old cyclist fighting for his life in hospital. Inset is the 100cc Honda Scoopy which crashed through a wall at the edge of Bailey's Bay while the man -- who has not been named -- was thrown a further 20 feet onto the foreshore.