Port Botany lovers among eight dead during horror weekend on NSW roads

Giovanni Santoro, 18, and his girlfriend Tamara Jordanoski, 17, died on Saturday night when their BMW crashed, flipped and burst into flames at Port Botany.

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TEENAGE lovers killed when their car crashed and burst into flames were among eight lives lost on the state’s roads at the weekend — including a three-year-old girl who was hit by a truck yesterday.

As family and friends wept and laid flowers near a snapped pole at Port Botany, where Giovanni Santoro, 18, and his girlfriend Tamara Jordanoski, 17, died on Saturday night, the little girl was being rushed to hospital after being hit at South Grafton about 8am. She could not be saved.

Giovanni Santoro and Tamara Jordanoski died when their car crashed while travelling at around 100km/h on Saturday night. Picture: Supplied

The road toll carnage included a 50-year-old female motorcycle pillion passenger killed near Bathurst, while the rider was flown to hospital in a critical condition; a 27-year-old woman killed when her car hit a tree north of Narrabri; and a 51-year-old man killed when his motorcycle crashed at Mt Seaview.

Those crashes on Saturday followed the deaths on Friday of truck drivers Mick Gorman and Adrian Ryan, whose rigs collided at Wilton.

Family and friends arriving yesterday to lay floral tributes at the Port Botany scene. Picture: Simon Bullard.

A friend of the young couple. Picture: Simon Bullard.

Both families laid flowers. Picture: Simon Bullard.

And there were other critical incidents­, with a mother pushing a pram left seriously injured when she was hit and pinned to a brick pillar by an alleged drunk driver at Lethbridge Park about 7.45pm on Saturday.

At Port Botany, Mr Santoro was at the wheel of a BMW as it left Botany Rd, slammed into a power pole, flipped and burst into flames at 10.30pm.

Police will investigate whether speed was a factor, with witnesses claiming the car was travelling at more than 100km/h.

The intersection of Botany Rd and Foreshore Rd has experienced problems with street racing in the past with a 19-year-old P-plater killed on Foreshore Rd in March 2009 while two P-platers had their cars confiscated in September 2010 after they were clocked reaching speeds of 140km/h.

Aleksander Jordanoski said his daughter Tamara wanted to become a doctor after the family migrated from Macedonia three years ago for a “better life”. The couple began dating soon after.

“It was a relationship everyone wants ... they would die for each other,” Mr Jordanoski said, adding Tamara would often study all night but when she and Mr Santoro­ went out “she was always careful — never speeding, never drinking ... she was always home before midnight”.

A firefighter hoses down the flaming car. Picture: Gordon McComiskie

Devastated friends learn that the couple have been killed. Picture: Gordon McComiskie

The couple were pictured together in a series of social media posts in the months before the accident, with Mr Santoro posting one photo just a fortnight ago with the message: “My everything, my queen.”

Family and friends also poured out their grief on social media, Mr Santoro’s mother Elizabeth yesterday writing: “Two angels flown in heaven.”