A driver has been charged with five counts of dangerous driving causing death after allegedly causing a “catastrophic” crash that killed five people near the Victoria-NSW border.
Five people and a dog were killed instantly when two cars and a B-double truck collided at the intersection of the Murray Valley Highway and Labuan Road in Strathmerton, about 250 kilometres north of Melbourne, about 2.30pm yesterday.
The 29-year-old driver of a white Mercedes allegedly did not give way at the intersection and hit a Nissan Navara that was then pushed into the path of a milk tanker.
The Mercedes driver, a Doncaster man, had been fined for speeding about 18km/h over the limit less than an hour before the crash, police allege.
He and his 20-year-old female passenger suffered minor injuries in the collision and stayed at the scene.
The man is in police custody and is due to face Shepparton Magistrates Court this afternoon.
“The Nissan Navara spun and was then involved in a collision with a fully loaded B-double milk tanker,” Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said today.
“All (five) people in the Nissan Navara were killed instantly.”
Weir said the damage was so “catastrophic” police needed specialist help throughout the night to work out how many people had been killed.
“I’ve seen the vision from the truck. It’s horrific,” he said.
He said the crash was Victoria’s deadliest since 2012.
The Mercedes driver was pulled over and fined when he was allegedly clocked doing 118km/h in a 100km/h zone less than 2km from the crash scene and less than an hour prior.
Weir said the truck driver did not do anything to cause the crash.
He was not injured.
The identities of those killed in the crash are still being confirmed, but it is believed the driver was a woman in her 60s who works in the local farming industry.
Her four passengers, a man and three women aged in their 20s, are believed to be from Asia and work for her.
“This is a really difficult and protracted investigation that will go on for a long time,” Weir said.
He said far too many lives had been lost on roads already this year.
More than 90 people have been killed on Victorian roads this year, compared to 79 at this time last year.
