By Cassandra Morgan
A teenage boy told a stranger he thought he was going to die, and a baby is one of two people fighting for life in hospital after separate multi-car crashes on Melbourne’s roads.
The teenage pedestrian was walking to trade school when he was hit by a car that mounted a kerb in East Melbourne, outside St Vincent’s Hospital, about 7am on Friday. The blue Holden Astra also hit five parked cars near the intersection of Victoria Parade and Nicholson Street, ABC radio reported.
The female driver of the Astra is in hospital in a critical condition.
Meanwhile, a 22-year-old Niddrie man has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury after a crash in Deer Park left a 22-month-old baby girl in a critical condition and injured five others.
Police said a silver Honda Accord and a grey Nissan Qashqai collided head-on on Station Road about 12.20am.
In addition to the 22-month-old, there were five other people in the Nissan, a one-year-old girl and a 10-year-old girl who were taken to Royal Children’s Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and later released, and three adults in their twenties who sustained minor injuries.
The uninjured driver of the Honda was arrested at the scene and was due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
In the East Melbourne crash, bystander Greg ripped off his shirt in a bid to stop the boy’s bleeding. Greg said he was walking to a parking meter when he saw the Astra coming “excruciatingly” fast, a speed he estimated at 140km/h.
“[I saw it] just clean this poor young bloke up and take out a heap of cars. It just knocked him on his ass,” Greg told the ABC at the scene.
“It was going to bleed out, the poor bugger. His cut was very, very long and deep … right on his groin.
The crash outside St Vincent’s Hospital in East Melbourne on Friday morning.Credit: Wayne Taylor
“So I’ve just taken my shirt off and packed it into a ball, and just stuffed it in there so I could pack the blood, and stop the bleeding. And it worked.”
Emergency services arrived quickly, and the boy repeatedly thanked Greg for his help, the man said.
Ambulance Victoria confirmed the teenager was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition with lower body injuries.
“He was saying he was going to die. But I said, ‘No, no, you’ll be fine, you’re a tough bugger’, and that was it. I calmed him right down,” Greg said.
“He was on his way to trade school and he’s thinking, ‘I’m just starting, and now this has happened, why me?’
“I said, ‘Nah mate, you’ll be alright’.”
The driver of the car, a woman who is yet to be formally identified, was in a “very bad way”, Greg said.
The woman was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a critical condition with upper and lower-body injuries, Ambulance Victoria said. She had to be extracted from the car by emergency services.
Callers to triple zero reported smoke billowing from at least one vehicle at the scene, a Fire Rescue Victoria spokesman said.
Firefighters, police and paramedics arrived within three minutes to find a small fire was already extinguished.
The Deer Park crash early on Friday morning.Credit: Nine News
The crash caused trams to be diverted and forced the closure of Victoria Parade’s westbound lanes between Gisborne and Spring streets throught the morning. Nicholson Street’s northbound lanes between Albert Street and Victoria Parade were also closed.
The roads have now reopened and normal tram services have resumed.
Police urged anyone with information or footage about the crashes to contact Crime Stoppers.
Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.