Mum killed, twins survive horror crash

Twin babies have survived a single-vehicle crash that tragically killed their young mother Cody Marie Mitchell in western NSW.

Twin babies have survived a single-vehicle crash that tragically killed their young mother in western NSW. Picture: Facebook

A young mother who died in a horror single-vehicle crash while driving with her two 15-month-old twin daughters along a remote stretch of road in western NSW is being remembered as a “beautiful” mum who “loved her girls”.

It comes as the NSW road toll jumped to 121 in the space of just 24 hours after three people died and another three were in a critical condition on Sunday night following four separate crashes on the state’s roads over the weekend.

Cody Marie Mitchell. Picture: Facebook

Cody Marie Mitchell was killed when her car veered off the road and rolled along the Silver City Highway near Anabranch, in western NSW, about 1.30pm on Saturday.

Ms Mitchell, 29, was thrown from the car and died instantly while her 15-month-old daughters were later discovered unharmed and safely secured in their booster seats at the back of the car by two passers-by.

“We’re heartbroken and still in shock,” said family friend Beth Hoskin. “She was a beautiful mum who loved her girls so much. I ­remember how excited me and my twin sister were when Cody fell pregnant with her own twins.”

Ms Hoskin said Ms Mitchell was driving home across the Victoria and NSW border from Mildura to Menindee when the tragedy occurred.

It comes after the state endured a horror spike in the number of road-related critical injuries and deaths recorded at the weekend following the easing of some coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

“This is a very clear indicator of what the risks are on our roads (as) extra vehicles are now travelling around NSW after recent restrictions have been eased,” said NSW Police Chief Inspector Phillip Brooks.

“Police must go and knock on the doors of these three families and tell them that a loved one has been lost on our roads.”

A 25-year-old man died and two other people were also hospitalised following a two-car crash in southwest Sydney about 11.30pm on Saturday.

The driver died after his Ford Falcon became airborne after crossing onto the wrong side of the highway, hitting a tree before slamming into a Toyota RAV4 on the Hume Highway in Campbelltown.

Inspector Brooks said the incident in Campbelltown was likely a “case of poor driver behaviour” and said one of the driver’s passengers, a 26-year-old man, was fighting for his life in Liverpool Hospital with suspected internal injuries.

“It’s this sort of driver behaviour that costs lives on our roads,” he said. “It is an absolute tragedy for those families and also the emergency services and medical staff that have tried to keep these people alive.”

In the state’s third fatal crash on Saturday, a man died after his Mitsubishi utility left the road and smashed into a tree in Port Macquarie about 5.30pm on Saturday.

The driver, a 45-year-old man, died at the scene.

In another accident, a woman and two children are in a critical condition after a car and a truck collided at an intersection in the NSW Riverina region.

Emergency services were able to free the 29-year-old woman and two girls, aged 10 and four, from the car after the accident on the Snowy Mountains Highway about 3pm on Saturday and treated them for serious head injuries before they were flown to hospital.