NT Police confirm six killed in horror Pine Creek highway crash, with DNA experts working to identify the victims
GRAPHIC WARNING: Witnesses have described the horror scene at the Territory’s worst road disaster in years after six people including four children were killed on the Stuart Highway. Read the latest.
Northern Territory
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Motorists were helpless to save six people trapped in a “ball of fire” following a head-on crash on the Stuart Highway, marking the Territory’s worst road disaster in 16 years.
NT Police have confirmed the horrific scale of the incident on Sunday, two days after a Mitsubishi 4WD and road train were involved in the crash at 4.15pm Friday, 12km south of Pine Creek.
Police said on Sunday among the six people killed was a child.
Initial investigations suggest the Mitsubishi 4WD swerved into the path of a truck carrying cars and trailers of mangoes headed south along the Stuart Highway.
Both vehicles caught fire in the collision, with two people in the truck able to escape the flames with non-life threatening injuries before being taken to Royal Darwin Hospital.
Territory Expeditions tour driver Daniel Hall was among the first to arrive at the scene after seeing a plume of black smoke a few kilometres down the highway.
Mr Hall said within minutes fellow drivers had stopped to coordinate traffic and provide first aid to the driver of the Shaw’s road train — but no one was able to help those inside the Mitsubishi.
“Whoever was in that car did not stand a chance at survival or being rescued in any way shape or form,” Mr Hall said.
“The entire car was one big ball of fire.
“Those people, they didn’t stand a chance.”
He said one of the two crash survivors was sitting in the back of a ute with a bandage over the his head, “cuts and bruises all over him” and blood dripping from his knees and elbows.
But Mr Hall said it was the look of “total devastation” his eyes that he would never forget.
“As his road train burnt … he had that look on his face that he got away with his life by the skin of his teeth,” he said.
Mr Hall said the Pine Creek disaster was “one of the worst” crashes he had seen in his 20 years of tour guide driving.
The Territory had a road toll nearly five times the national average according to the latest Productivity Commission data, with 45 people losing their lives on the road in 2021-22.
This year’s death toll has reached 19, compared to 42 this same time last year.
Mr Hall said the terrifying rates were not a question of speed limits but the “disgusting” approach to road safety, saying he was tired of driving past roadside memorials marking where entire families of Territorians had been killed.
“I’m sick of seeing these crosses on the side of the road,” he said.
“The Territory really needs to have a good look at itself at the moment on a lot of things, but I think road trauma is top of the list.”
Mr Hall said he had “enough” and was leaving the NT for at least six months to recharge from the onslaught of road trauma and crime.
NT Police have yet to confirm the ages and genders of the six people who were trapped in the 4WD, with specialists from the Disaster Victim Identification team called in to help identify the deceased.
The Disaster Victim Identification unit is called on in the wake of mass fatality incidents and uses DNA evidence, dental records, tattoos, scars and fingerprints to identify the bodies.
Forensic Science Branch Officer in Charge Bruce Payne said his team was working closely with the Forensic Pathologist and Coroner’s Office at this time.
“Due to the severe nature of the crash, identification of the deceased is likely to be a long process as we work to bring some closure to the families involved, and to understand how the crash occurred,” Mr Payne said.
NT Police have said it may be more than a week before those killed can be identified.
Detective Senior Sergeant Brendan Lindner said the investigation into the horror crash was ongoing, calling for anyone with dashcam from the area between 2.30pm and 4.45pm on Friday to come forward.
“This was a confronting crash that has resulted in significant loss of life,” Sergeant Lindner said.
“I would like to commend the work of all those involved in this tragic incident, including those first on scene who quickly contacted emergency services.”
The Pine Creek crash was the biggest road tragedy since 2007, when six people were killed in a single-vehicle crash after police tried to stop the car for a random breath test near Alice Springs.
The Territory’s worst road disaster occured in 1992, when six men and one woman were killed when they were thrown 30m from a tray truck as a vehicle smashed into a power pole at high speed just south of Alice Springs.
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Originally published as NT Police confirm six killed in horror Pine Creek highway crash, with DNA experts working to identify the victims
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