Five dead in smash on rural highway: [3 All-round Metro Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 21 June 2004: 3.
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Police said a husband and wife, both 46, and their two children, aged 12 and 17, from Bendigo, died when their car, driven by the teenager, collided head-on with a truck about 4.45pm near the town of Campbells Creek.
All five passengers in the family's Holden Commodore were killed instantly in the collision with the four-tonne truck, which was travelling in the opposite direction. The 57-year-old truck driver was taken to Bendigo Hospital with a broken arm.
Yesterday's tragedy was an unhappy echo of another accident that shattered the tight-knit community of Bendigo and the family of former Bendigo mayor Laurie Whelan less than 20km away in 2002. Mr Whelan's wife, Julie Macdonald, and two of their daughters, Ruth, 13, and Kellie, 17, were killed when their car slammed into an oncoming semi-trailer at Sedgwick, near Bendigo. Kellie, who was learning to drive, was behind the wheel of the car.
A VICTORIAN family of four and a 15-year-old foreign exchange student were killed in a head-on collision yesterday when a car driven by a 17-year-old learner collided with a truck on the Midland Highway northwest of Melbourne.
Police said a husband and wife, both 46, and their two children, aged 12 and 17, from Bendigo, died when their car, driven by the teenager, collided head-on with a truck about 4.45pm near the town of Campbells Creek.
A 15-year-old foreign exchange student from France, believed to be staying with the Bendigo family, was also killed.
All five passengers in the family's Holden Commodore were killed instantly in the collision with the four-tonne truck, which was travelling in the opposite direction. The 57-year-old truck driver was taken to Bendigo Hospital with a broken arm.
Ambulance crews, firefighters and State Emergency Service workers attended the scene, which they described as "horrific".
Police had not released the family's names last night.
Yesterday's tragedy was an unhappy echo of another accident that shattered the tight-knit community of Bendigo and the family of former Bendigo mayor Laurie Whelan less than 20km away in 2002. Mr Whelan's wife, Julie Macdonald, and two of their daughters, Ruth, 13, and Kellie, 17, were killed when their car slammed into an oncoming semi-trailer at Sedgwick, near Bendigo. Kellie, who was learning to drive, was behind the wheel of the car.
Mr Whelan later became an active campaigner for road safety and road improvements in the area.
A Rural Ambulance Victoria spokesman said of yesterday's crash that there had not been a more horrific accident in country Victoria in recent memory.
"I can't recall when we've had that many dead in the one accident," he said. "It's one of the worst multiple-fatality accidents on rural Victorian roads for some time." The accident was at the intersection of Donkey Gully Road and the Midland Highway. Police are yet to determine whether one of the vehicles was attempting to cross or turn into the highway at the time of the crash.
The Midland Highway, which connects Victoria's two largest regional cities, Geelong and Bendigo, was blocked for several hours.
Country Fire Association northwest region duty officer Mick Harris said driving conditions had been bad at the time of the accident.
"Certainly it was miserable weather with drizzly rain and just getting on for dusk so pretty low light levels as well," he said.
The accident brought Victoria's road toll to 188, up 15 on the same time last year.
In January, four members of a Canberra family were killed in a car crash. Bill Allen, his wife Elizabeth and two of their daughters, Hannah Rose, 14, and Phoebe Louise, 9, died when their Toyota LandCruiser left the road and rolled at Tarcutta on the Hume Highway, midway between Sydney and Melbourne.
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