Woman helping puppy killed in Donvale truck tragedy
A WOMAN who died in a “traumatic” accident in Melbourne’s outer east was trying to get her puppy from the back of the truck when it started to roll.
VIC News
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A WOMAN was trying to get a puppy from the back of a truck when the brakes gave way and she was dragged underneath and killed in a horror accident in Melbourne’s outer east.
The incident happened as the husband and wife team were about to start work on an excavation job at a house in Wattamolla Ridge, Donvale this morning.
The couple parked their rigid tip truck on the street at the front of a house about 7.20am and the husband was in the process of unloading it when it began to roll, Sergeant Paul Egan said.
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“It appears she was trying to get a dog out of the truck at the time she was dragged under.
“Two of the adult dogs were out. There was a little puppy in the cabin, she’d been trying to get it out when it started rolling.”
The 49-year-old woman was standing beside the rear trailer and became caught under the truck which dragged her along the road.
She died instantly.
The sergeant said the husband, in his 50s, was standing on the trailer unloading when he was thrown backwards and fell to the road, suffering a minor bump to the head.
“He’s at the hospital now, he’s understandably upset,” Sgt Egan said.
The couple’s children were on their way to the hospital now to be with him.
Sgt Egan said the husband and wife have three work kelpies they take with them in the truck and the woman was trying to encourage the youngest dog down just before the accident.
All three of the dogs were uninjured, police confirmed.
Sgt Egan described it as a “very tragic accident” and a “traumatic” scene.
He said witnesses rushed to the woman’s aid but the nature of her injuries meant it was instantly apparent she was dead.
The truck rolled forwards about 50m down the hill only came to a halt in the yard of a nearby property.
Sgt Egan said the truck was within a metre of ploughing into the house but went straight down the side of the yard.
“We’re investigating how it started rolling and how that actually happened.”
Sgt Egan said one possible explanation they were investigating was whether the dog’s lead caught on the handbrake.
He said the woman and her husband had just recently bought their dream home and were planning out their retirement.
The family is from Hallston in the Gippsland region.
Roadblocks remain in place around the scene.
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