The incident comes just weeks after France was engulfed by its worst rioting for years following the police shooting of Nahel, an unarmed 17-year-old of Arab origin, during a road stop.

In the latest deadly incident, police sources say the moped fled at the sight of a police patrol that was preparing to stop it, with officers giving chase before abandoning the pursuit in Limoges, western France.

Police claim the moped then jumped a red traffic light and collided with a car, killing the 16-year-old rider instantly and injuring the adult passenger, who later died of his injuries in hospital.

Limoges city hall said the car was carrying a father and his young children, who were “shocked and traumatised”.

On the city’s General Leclerc avenue, a major thoroughfare lined with residential buildings, the roadway was strewn with sawdust and crosses indicating the positions of the bodies, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

Police sources said that the pair were riding a powerful Yamaha TMAX scooter and that police “quickly put an end” to the pursuit, “judging the situation too dangerous”.

The regional authorities in Haute-Vienne declined to comment on the case, referring the matter to the Limoges prosecutor’s office, which is expected to release a statement later.

“Our thoughts are obviously with the families of the victims to whom we offer our deepest condolences,” the mayor of Limoges, Emile-Roger Lombertie, said in a statement.   

The Actu17 news site said there were scuffles in the city after the accident, but calm had been restored.

The two deaths come just over a month after the killing in late June of 17-year-old Nahel, who was shot by police after he allegedly refused to comply with officers’ instructions in Nanterre, a suburb northwest of central Paris.

His death sparked several nights of urban violence across the country, with incidents of looting amid clashes between rioters and security forces.