BUCKLING up could have saved the lives of two polytechnic students who died in a horrific car crash late on Tuesday night, safety experts said on Friday.

David Li and classmate Mervin Teo, when their car veered off Old Upper Thomson Road and smashed into a wall of trees, the experts told The Straits Times.

'If they had worn their seatbelts, they would have been restrained...instead of being tossed around and sustaining fatal injuries,' said Mr Tan Jin Thong, president of the National Safety Council.

Mr Li, 18, and Mr Teo, 19, were in the back seat of a friend's Mitsubishi Lancer when it skidded off the road.

The car plunged downhill before flipping on its side on hitting the trees.

Mr Li suffered head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene while Mr Teo died about two hours later at Tan Tock Seng hospital.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.