Four teenagers are dead after a horror smash on a road in regional Victoria as police probe how long they lay in the wreckage before help arrived.
Emergency services were called to the scene at Bochara, three-and-a-half hours west of Melbourne, shortly after 9.30am on Saturday.
Victoria Police said a car carrying five people was travelling along Wannon-Nigretta Rd when the driver lost control of the vehicle and ran into a tree.
But police are hoping CCTV footage may shed light on when the accident actually happened and how long after before crash was spotted and the alarm was raised.
It’s feared the dead and injured may have lain unseen for hours on the lonely road until emergency services were alerted.
Emergency services were called to the scene at Bochara, three-and-a-half hours west of Melbourne, shortly after 9.30am on Saturday morning
Two males and two females died in the crash. It was earlier reported that four teenage girls had died, but police later amended the information.
‘Two females and two males, who are all yet to be formally identified, died at the scene,’ the police statement read.
‘Another female has been taken to hospital with serious injuries.’
She has been confirmed by an Ambulance Victoria spokesperson as a teenage girl who was flown to the Alfred Hospital with upper body injuries in a critical condition.
Officers believe the five occupants of the car were locals to the area from nearby Hamilton.
‘Hamilton is a very close-knit community, and there’s five people involved in this and all their families and all their friends,’ Victoria Police Sergeant Ryan Nelson told reporters.
‘It’s going to hit the town really hard.’
The tragic crash happened on Wannon-Nigretta Rd in country Victoria (pictured) about 9.30am Saturday
Bochara, with a population of less than a hundred people, is located about three-and-a-half hours west of Melbourne
Sgt Nelson described the scene as horrific and said police wanted to give people answers about what happened.
They hope surveillance footage from the nearby Nigretta Falls tourist location may show the girls’ vehicle passing among the overnight traffic and indicate when the crash happened.
Police cordoned off the area to allow major collision investigation unit detectives to probe the crash, with officers remaining there on Saturday evening.
Locals say the single lane road is notorious in the area.
Vehicles must pull over onto the verge to pass each other, but many still hurtle down at the 100km/h speed limit or more, according to residents.
Southern Grampians Shire Mayor David Robertson described the crash as a parent’s worst nightmare.
‘This is horrific right across the community,’ Cr Robertson said.
‘The whole community will feel the impact of this for a long time to come.’
Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash and polie urged any witnesses to contact them.
So far this year, 128 people have died on Victoria’s roads, compared with 96 during the same period last year.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
