A tight-knit regional Victorian community is mourning the death of four teens in a car crash, as a sole survivor fights for life.
Police remained at the scene of the crash on Wannon-Nigretta Falls Road, Bochara, on Saturday evening after the car with five people on board lost control and hit a tree.
The crash was reported by a passerby at about 9:30 a.m.
Two females and two males died at the scene and a fifth passenger was flown to Melbourne’s Alfred hospital, where she remains in a serious condition.
Those who died in the crash are yet to be formally identified and their ages have not been confirmed by police.
But the region’s mayor has confirmed four of the victims were students at Baimbridge College in Hamilton, a town about 300 kilometres (186 miles) west of Melbourne with just over 10,000 people.
The sole survivor, a teenage girl, sustained upper body injuries in the crash on the rural road, which has a 100 kilometre per hour speed limit.
Detectives from the major collision unit were still probing the scene on Sunday morning before 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.”
Southern Grampians Shire Council has offered its condolences to the victim’s families and friends, saying the community cannot comprehend the grief and the pain they must be feeling.
“Trust that the people of Hamilton share in your immense sadness and grief and we will rally around to support you,” the council said.
“Over the coming days and weeks, we encourage anyone who needs to seek support, please do so.”
There have been 128 deaths on Victoria’s roads this year to date, 32 more than at the same time in 2022.
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.”
Four farm workers were among five people killed last month at Strathmerton in Victoria’s most deadly single crash since 2012.
A woman also died on Sunday morning after a car crashed into a power pole at Thomastown in Melbourne’s outer north, with the male driver left fighting for life in hospital.
