Five people, including two children, dead and multiple injured after car smashes into Daylesford pub
Hundreds of people have gathered in Daylesford to pay respects to the five people, including two children, who were killed when a car smashed into a beer garden.
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Five people, including a father and son, have died after a luxury SUV ploughed into a popular pub in Daylesford early Sunday evening.
The deaths come after a white BMW SUV crashed into the beer garden of The Royal Daylesford Hotel just after 6pm.
On Monday night, hundred of people banded together at a vigil for the victims.
Residents gathered at Victoria Park on the local football ground to commentate the victims and thank first responders for their efforts.
Local resident Arthur tearfully called for a memorial to be installed to commemorate the victims.
“I don’t even know the victims name but these people can to our home and lost their lives,” he said.
“They will always be a part of this community and we should remember them.”
Hepburn Shire Mayor Brain Hood paid tribute to the victims, first responders and the local community.
“The job our first responders faced last night would have been horrible and confronting,” Cr Hood said.
“We could not survive without their efforts.
“We also has community members drop everything to assist our first responders and locals.
“The last 24 hours shows us how fragile life can be.
“This is such a terrible event but we will get through this.”
On Tuesday Cr Hood said additional mental health support would be available for Daylesford residents following the vigil held on Monday night.
“The community grief was palpable at the vigil last night in Daylesford,” he said.
“It was very moving to come together in this way and it’s so important that we continue to support each other and the emergency services personnel who serve us so well.
Drop-in counselling services will be available for anyone affected and residents can reach out to Central Highlands Rural Health.
Detectives on Monday confirmed the victims and survivors were from three separate groups – not two as reported earlier — who were visiting the tourist destination.
A 38-year-old Tarneit man and his 11-year-old son both died at the scene, while his 36-year-old wife and a second son, aged six, were injured.
The woman was flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she remains in intensive care in a critical condition, while the young boy was flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital suffering broken legs and internal injuries – but is now in a stable condition.
In the second group, a 30-year-old Point Cook man and his partner, a 44-year-old woman, died at the scene, while the woman’s 9-year-old daughter later died in hospital.
In the third group, a 43-year-old Kyneton woman and a 38-year-old Cockatoo man were injured. Both were flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and are now in a stable condition.
The injured 11-month-old baby boy was with the pair.
He was taken by road to Ballarat Base Hospital and has since been transferred to the Royal Children’s Hospital in a stable condition.
The baby’s mother, a 34-year-old woman from Cockatoo, was not injured.
On Monday morning, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said at least two of the groups were likely known to each other.
“It seems at this stage it would appear that the two groups, two family groups predominantly who know each other and they’re not from the Daylesford area we believe,” he said.
“But we’re not in a position to really step through that much further.”
Mr Patton said it’s unclear what caused the deadly crash.
“In terms of the investigation, it is still very early days yet, very early days,” he said.
“Our major collision investigation unit will be going through all the inquiries they do including reconstruction of the collision scene and examination of the vehicle.
“We still haven’t had an opportunity to interview the driver yet.”
Mr Patton said the driver, who had no prior convictions, was breath tested at the scene and there was no alcohol in his system.
He remained in hospital on Monday morning, “predominantly for shock with minor injuries”.
“The driver is not a person who’s known to us through national security interests,” he said.
“He is not a person who has prior convictions other than some traffic offending as in speeding tickets.”
Mr Patton could not confirm if speed caused the crash.
“Obviously there has been contact, significant contact, from a vehicle that’s caused a lot of trauma, death and damage.
“So the vehicle was travelling at some speed, whether that’s excessive or not, needs to be determined through our reconstruction which is currently taking place.”
Two officers from Daylesford police station who heard the crash were the first emergency workers to arrive on scene.
“The station was staffed, two police officers heard the collision and as I understand, ran to the scene,” he said.
“It’s a matter of a couple of 100 metres away, and they were some of the first officers on the scene.
“They did exactly what they’re trained to do and we’re very proud.”
Mr Patton said the crash was an “absolute tragedy”, describing it as “confronting”, “chaotic” and “distressing”.
“I think it would be remiss of me not to speak of the toll this type of event can take on people,” he said.
“There were numerous people there, community members, visitors, many people in the proximity who selflessly came out and aided those who were dying, aided those who needed first aid just disregarded their own safety.
“I’ve spoken to the head of our road policing area today who was at the scene and he described it as one of the worst and most confronting that he had ever been.”
Mr Patton said the BMW was travelling down Albert St, heading in a westerly direction, before it mounted the gutter and drove across a grassed area outside the venue.
“There were a large number of people there at that time, at tables enjoying themselves, enjoying what is essentially a long weekend,” he said.
“The vehicle collided with those tables and those people.”
Road Policing Command Superintendent John Fitzpatrick said the scene was extremely confronting and it was likely friends and family watched their loved ones die.
“I haven’t seen something this drastic for a long time — any time you have five people die at the one scene – it’s horrible,” he said.
“We don’t like to see anyone lose their life but to see a child – you never want to see anything like that.”
Police were examining and collecting debris from outside the pub on Monday morning where a light pole was knocked down during the crash.
Forensic specialists began spraying down the road just before 8am.
Rhonda White, who witnessed the crash, said: “There were bodies everywhere, it was horrifying”.
“I watched the whole crash,” said Ms White, who was having a drink at the nearby RSL when the tragedy unfolded.
“The car went up into the sky. I thought it was just dust. It’s only now I know it was bodies.”
Ms White, who has lived in Daylesford for more than 40 years, said she’d never seen anything like it in her years of living in the quiet country town.
“I can’t explain what I saw, something I wouldn’t even see in a movie. The car going up, flicking lights and I only realised later, they were all bodies around us – they were bodies I was watching.”
“I can’t believe I saw what I saw. I don’t know where the people came from. Normally at that time the place is quiet on a Sunday evening but there were about 100 people who were helping out.
“There were nurses off duty and others doing CPR.”
People sitting in the RSL were extremely shaken, struggling to understand what just happened, Ms White said.
“There were people screaming and shouting. It was chaos,” she said.
One onlooker said they saw the car travelling at a normal speed down the hill towards the roundabout when suddenly it accelerated out of nowhere.
A badly damaged BMW SUV could be seen outside the pub behind crime scene tape on Sunday.
The vehicle’s bumper bar was almost completely torn off and its bonnet crushed.
The vehicle was surrounded by debris from the wreckage.
Police, paramedics and firefighters swarmed the scene, treating patrons caught up in the carnage.
Ambulance Victoria state health controller Trevor Weston on Monday said those who were taken to hospital after being struck in the crash suffered “traumatic” injuries.
“I could only imagine what the community are feeling this morning,” he said.
“It was obviously very confronting, quiet chaotic when our first crews arrived.
Mr Weston said first responders who arrived at the horrific incident had been deeply impacted by the confronting scene.
“Any incident involving children is sort of that next level of distress for our first responders,” he said.
Those crews will receive mental health support.
Mr Weston commended the members of the public who rushed to help those who were injured by performing CPR.
Daylesford resident Joanna Parker became emotional after laying a bouquet of flowers at the roundabout early Monday morning.
She said residents descended into panic, making frantic calls to one another in a bid to ensure their loved ones were safe.
“There were lots of locals that were crying and all the girls from al the shops that work at the restaurants came out and said “we’ll have to close”,” she said.
“Their mum’s are calling and everyone’s calling.
Ms Parker, who works at the nearby hardware store, said the entire town had been devastated by the crash.
“It will affect the community, because it’s a very, very tight community,” she said.
“It’s very, very sad.
“It’s pretty massive. It’s a very tight knit community.
“I feel for the family. We don’t know who the victims are yet, but it doesn’t matter because it could be anyone.
“ It could have been my children or their friends … It’s a popular pub … and lots and lots of tourists on a Sunday.
Ms Parker said she also felt for the 66-year-old driver’s loved ones.
“His family would be suffering,” she said.
“Possibly everybody knows somebody that was impacted.”
The pub was bustling with hundreds of patrons in the hours before the crash.
It’s understood the venue was busier than normal due to the unofficial long weekend before Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup public holiday.
“The Royal was packed with patrons outside all weekend,” a local wrote on social media.
Another said she saw people sitting at tables in the sun just before tragedy struck.
“They were having a wonderful time. It’s so sad to hear this,” she wrote online.
Daylesford locals Elysia Rose, 22, and Tyson Scoble, 18, had driven past the pub five minutes before the tragedy.
“We drink there all the time. It was such a perfect day for it. It’s so scary,” Ms Rose said.
“All my friends drink there most weekends. My mum works up the road. I started calling her and all of them to make sure they were OK.”
Mr Scoble said: “Five minutes earlier and it could have been us.”
Hepburn Shire mayor Brian Hood said it was an “absolute tragedy” for the close-knit community.
“We’re a small town, this will rock us hard,” Mr Hood told the Herald Sun.
“It’s early days, I don’t have a lot of detail yet.
“But it’s been a busy weekend, a long weekend for some. It’s great weather, people would’ve been sitting outside there dining. It’s a very popular place,” he said.
Mr Hood said the incident was in the hands of authorities, but the council will do “everything we can to support our community”.
“It’s an absolute tragedy.”
Federal Member for Ballarat Catherine King expressed her condolences to those involved. “My thoughts are with Daylesford tonight – particularly those involved in the incident and their friends and families,” she wrote in a statement.
Kitty Martin, from a nearby pizza restaurant, said she heard a loud bang shortly after 6pm.
“There was some kind of collision in the roundabout, I don’t know how many cars were involved,” she said.
A worker at a nearby Mexican restaurant said the car involved was really “messed up”.
“There are a lot of people outside,” she said at the time of the crash.
The Royal Hotel is one of the region’s most popular and oldest venues. Built in 1856, the pub is located in the centre of the town and offers accommodation, and both indoor and outdoor dining. Police are appealing for CCTV or dashcam footage of the crash and urge anyone with information to come forward.
“Emergency services are currently at the scene of a fatal crash in Daylesford,” a Victoria Police statement read.
“Police have been to a car crashed into the beer garden of a pub on Vincent Street about 6.05pm.
“Anyone who witnessed the incident, has dashcam/CCTV footage or information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.”
Locals were asked to avoid the area as emergency services worked the scene.
The crash takes the state’s road toll to 243 lives lost his year, up from 208 deaths this time last year.
Originally published as Five people, including two children, dead and multiple injured after car smashes into Daylesford pub
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