Four men and one woman killed in two-car crash 3km north of Adelaide River township

FOUR men and one woman have been killed in a two-car crash near the Adelaide River township.

Two car fatal motor vehicle accident on the intersection of the Stuart Highway and Strictland Road, 5km north of Adelaide River.

FOUR men and one woman are dead after one of the worst crashes in Territory history, creating a horrific scene for emergency services workers and hours of delays for commuters.

NT Police are still yet to release any further information in relation to the accident as they are currently notifying next of kin.

The five were travelling south on the Stuart Highway towards the township of Adelaide River when their silver sedan lost control at about 4pm yesterday.

It hit a northbound Honda SUV at the Strickland Rd intersection, about 3km north of the town.

Sergeant Mark Casey said investigators believed the sedan drifted off the left shoulder of the highway and lost control when the driver overcorrected. He said it then veered into the path of the oncoming SUV and was hit on the left passenger side.

The driver of the SUV was believed to be walking after the crash and was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital.

One of the cars involved in a fatal crash.

Sgt Casey could not give any details about the sex, ages or addresses of those killed, nor if they were related. But the NT News understands no children were involved.

The sedan had NT registration plates, the SUV had plates from New South Wales.

Asked how the crash compared with others in his time in Major Crash Investigations, Sgt Casey said: “Every crash is tragic but when five people die it certainly does make an impact. I just urge everyone to drive safely.”

There were no visible skid marks at the scene and both cars came to rest within metres of each other.

Location of the crash near the Adelaide River township.

Most of the debris – glass, car parts, two jerry cans and a bottle of Mother energy drink – was scattered within a 10m radius of the two vehicles.

Sgt Casey said counselling was available to those emergency services crews first on the scene.

Cars, trucks and caravans travelling from Darwin banked back more than a kilometre before police created a detour path next to the highway.

North-bound traffic was still stopped at 7.30 last night.

Traffic from the south was again stopped as investigators inspected the bodies.

Some commuters waited more than three hours.

Sgt Casey urged anyone who saw the crash to contact police.

The deaths take the 2014 road toll to 18, compared with 13 at the same time last year.