Two dead as car plummets off EJ Whitten Bridge on Western Ring Rd, Melbourne

A DRAG race and hoon party involving hundreds of youths has ended in a fiery crash which has left two people dead after a car plunged 55 metres off a bridge.

TWO people are dead after a car plummeted off a 55m-high bridge in Melbourne’s west this morning.

The deadly crash off the side of the EJ Whitten bridge at Keilor East came after two cars were seen speeding down the Western Ring Rd.

A witness told 3AW this morning seeing the crash was surreal, describing it as “like watching a movie”.

Paul said he was driving to work about 1.30am and was doing 100km/h when he saw two cars speeding along the ring road.

“They gave me a fright they were going that hard,” he said.

Paul said he saw one car go over the railing and burst into flames.

He called fire crews but said there was little he could do.

He claims the other car stopped, put on its hazard lights, and he saw the driver on the phone.

It appears the driver of one car lost control as it headed south on the bridge.

Emergency crews were called shortly after 1.30am and found two people dead in the wreckage.

The EJ Whitten Bridge, which crosses the Maribyrnong River, is about 55m high.

Major Collision Unit detectives are at the scene.

The Western Ring Rd is closed from Sunshine Avenue, Kealba to the Calder Freeway at Keilor Park.

The road may not be open until noon.

Cars are being redirected but VicRoads is urging drivers to avoid the area.

Emergency crews at the scene of the double fatality in Keilor East. Picture: Nicole Garmston

The wreckage can be seen some distance from the bridge. Picture: Nicole Garmston

The EJ Whitten Bridge.

Meanwhile, a woman died in a separate car crash in the state’s west.

The woman, aged in her 20s, was travelling in the back seat of a Mazda sedan that smashed into a number of trees at Buangor, near Ararat about 10.30pm last night.

It’s believed the driver of the car had swerved to avoid hitting a fox on the road.

The woman died at the scene.

Two men, aged in their 20s, and a woman in her 30s, were treated by paramedics.

It was the second deadly crash in the Ararat area in less than 24 hours, following the death of a teenage passenger yesterday.

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