Extremely high speed was a factor in a car crash that killed four people in Victoria’s west and left a teen fighting for life in hospital.
A car with five people on board was travelling along Wannon-Nigretta Falls Rd at Bochara on Saturday when the driver lost control and smashed into a tree.
Two females and two males died at the scene and a fifth passenger, a 17-year-old girl, remains in a critical condition with upper body injuries at Melbourne’s Alfred hospital.
Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing Glenn Weir confirmed the car was travelling at extremely high speed along the narrow rural road, which has a speed limit of 100km/h.
“It is a really traumatic and destructive scene there,” he told reporters on Sunday.
The crash was reported by a passer-by about 9.30am but Mr Weir said the car could have been there for many hours after being spotted at a nearby waterfall’s car park about 1am.
Police are yet to formally identify the dead but confirmed two are teenage boys and another is a woman in her 30s.
The region’s mayor said four of the victims were students at Baimbridge College in Hamilton, a town about 300km west of Melbourne with just over 10,000 people.
It remains unclear who was driving at the time or if the occupants were wearing seat belts.
Detectives from the major collision unit were still probing the scene to create a full forensic crash reconstruction on Sunday as the crumbled wreck was towed away.
Photographs of the red Toyota showed graffiti on the seats with the words “drive safe” and “love people help people”.
In a statement, Southern Grampians Shire Council offered their condolences to the victims’ families and friends.
“Trust that the people of Hamilton share in your immense sadness and grief and we will rally around to support you,” the council said.
Premier Daniel Andrews said authorities would determine the cause of the crash but urged Victorians to drive to the conditions as winter approaches.
“Please just take a little bit longer to get there but getting there is the really important thing,” he told reporters on Sunday.
“We don’t want families going through what those families are going through right now.”
There have been 131 deaths on Victoria’s roads to date this year, 33 more than at the same time in 2022.
Four farm workers were among five people killed last month at Strathmerton in what was the state’s most deadly single crash since 2012.
A man and woman, both 42, also died after a car crashed into a power pole at Thomastown in Melbourne’s outer north on Sunday morning.
And a woman, 53, died in hospital on Sunday after a hit-and-run collision at Point Cook in Melbourne’s southwest on Friday night. A man has been charged over the crash.
Since Friday, eight people have lost their lives on Victorian roads.
This weekend has been a catastrophe and police are frustrated with the behaviour of motorists, Mr Weir said.
“Families have been ripped apart, a community has been ripped apart. It cannot go on,” he said.
Australian Associated Press