A 28-year-old Indonesian man, Ari Utomo, has been identified as the fatal Chain of Ponds crash victim
A 28-year-old man from Elizabeth who died at the scene of a horrific crash at Chain of Ponds on Wednesday has been identified.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A 28-year-old who died in a horrific fatal crash in the Adelaide Hills has been revealed as an Indonesian man who came to South Australia to work.
Ari Utomo from Elizabeth, died at the scene of a crash at Chain of Ponds about 9.30am on Wednesday, October 18 – there were another three men inside the car.
Mr Utomo – a passenger in the vehicle – died at the scene while the driver, a 25-year-old man, and two other occupants, 25 and 23, all from Elizabeth, are fighting for their lives at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
The cousin of the man who died, Herlina Pasaribu Habeahan, posted a tribute online writing: “Rest in peace my cousin”.
The four men worked together at Thomas Foods International Lobethal plant, where one worked in the processing team while the three others worked in the cleaning team.
“We are all deeply saddened by this tragic accident,” a company spokesperson said.
“Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones at this distressing time.
“This is also very upsetting for our local workforce and counselling support has been made available to our entire team.”
The men, originally from Indonesia, were on working visas and were deeply connected to the Australian Indonesian community.
Fery Ripay, an Indonesian man living in Sydney, posted to Facebook, appealing for donations to provide to the families of those affected by the crash.
“May Allah give them and their families the strength to be patient and steadfast in carrying out their destiny,” he wrote.
“Friends please be careful when driving, remember that there are loved ones in our country who are waiting for our return.
“It’s better to be late than to get to the hospital early.”
Another man commented: “May the deceased be blessed … and the families left behind will be given fortitude”.
“Those who are still being treated in hospital, hope to recover quickly,” he wrote.
Community spokeswoman Elvia Shauki told 7NEWS that Adelaide’s Indonesians were “devastated” by this tragedy.
“The Indonesian community are all in a very, very deep grief at this time,” Ms Shauki said.
“We fundraised immediately, not just to settle the bill for the hospital which is not covered by insurance, but also for whenever we have to send the dead body to Indonesia to the family.
“We are all united to help the families as well as the victims, and we are strong together to make it happen.”
The crash occurred on South Para Rd, which was closed until 3pm on Wednesday.
Traffic Services Branch officer-in-charge Superintendent Darren Fielke said Major Crash investigators were still working to determine the cause.
“We just have to respect the investigation at the moment as we work through it,” Supt Fielke said.
“We’ve got three people fighting for life in hospital.
“As you can imagine, it wasn’t a very pleasant scene up there this morning.”
Supt Fielke urged South Australians to “make this stop” when briefing media on this year’s road toll.
“We need people to actually stop taking risks on the road,” he said.
“We need people to wake up. We need the (road toll) number to stop rising.”
The man’s death is the 93rd life lost on SA roads compared with 57 at the same time last year.