The wreckage of a car in a horror crash that killed four school friends and another who was fighting for her life has revealed the terrifying magnitude of the collision.
A red Toyota Corolla was driving on Wannon-Nigretta Falls Road in Bochara, 200 miles west of Melbourne, when it went off the road.
Authorities fear the wreckage lay unseen on the lonely road for hours before it was discovered and police arrived at the scene at 9:30am on Saturday.
Four teenagers from Baimbridge College in Hamilton were killed, while another was flown to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital in critical condition.
Emergency services managed to tow the car from the crime scene on Sunday afternoon, revealing a wrecked vehicle with a collapsed roof.
Inside the car were messages with the tragic words ‘drive safe’ and ‘love people, help people’.
Four teenage school friends are dead after a horror attack on a road in regional Victoria as police investigate how long they lay in the wreckage (pictured) before help arrived
The red Toyota Corolla had messages written on the seats including the tragic words ‘drive safe’ and ‘love people, help people’ (pictured)
Police hope CCTV footage can shed light on when the accident occurred and how long it took for the accident to be noticed and the alarm raised.
Police believe the driver of the car lost control before hitting a tree.
Two men and two women were killed in the crash. It was previously reported that four teenage girls had died, but police later changed the information.
“Two women and two men, all of whom have yet to be formally identified, died at the scene,” Victoria Police said in a statement.
“Another woman was taken to hospital with serious injuries.”
She has been confirmed by an Ambulance Victoria spokesperson as a teenage girl who was flown to Alfred Hospital with upper body injuries in critical condition.
Officers believe the five occupants of the car were local residents of nearby Hamilton, seven miles from the crash site.
“Hamilton is a very tight-knit community, and there are five people involved and all their families and all their friends,” Victoria Police Sergeant Ryan Nelson told reporters.
“It’s going to hit the city really hard.”
According to the 2021 census, 10,346 people live in Hamilton, and only 84 people live in Bochara.
Emergency services (pictured) were called shortly after 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning in Bochara, three and a half hours west of Melbourne.
The tragedy took place on Wannon-Nigretta Falls Road in the country of Victoria (pictured)
Sergeant Nelson described the scene as gruesome and said police wanted people to have answers about what happened.
Police cordoned off the area so investigators from the major collision unit could investigate the accident.
Investigators left the crime scene around 1 p.m. Sunday, but the road remained closed.
The Southern Grampians Shire will temporarily reduce speed from 100 km/h once the road reopens.
Local residents said the single-lane road is notorious in the area.
Vehicles have to stop on the shoulder to pass each other, but many still hurtle down at the speed limit of 100 km/h or more, according to some residents – although there is no indication that speed was a factor in this case.
Southern Grampians Shire Mayor David Robertson described the crash as a parent’s worst nightmare.
“This is terrible in the whole community,” he said. “The whole community will feel the effects of this for a long time to come.”
Mr Robertson said the teens would be known all over town.
“Even if they don’t know the kids, they know the parents or the grandparents or their sibling.”
The mayor said the accident happened “on a lonely stretch of road sometime between 4 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning.”
He said safety is a major concern in the area due to road conditions and wildlife.
“I’ve been here for 45 years and there’s more and more game on the road, it’s getting to a point where it’s getting very dangerous,” he told the Announce sun.
Hamilton local Minnie Jackson said she went to school with some of the victims, who she believed were a year or two below her.
“It was pretty shocking,” she told the ABC.
She said the community was full of “genuinely lovely people” who would unite in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Mr Robertson said a federal government trauma team will arrive on Monday.
On Sunday morning, children and families attended a confirmation service at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church.
The congregation held a moment of silence and offered prayers for the victims of the crash and their loved ones.
“Let their families have peace, strength and support around them,” Father Patrick Mugavin said.
Bochara, with a population of less than a hundred people, is about three and a half hours west of Melbourne
Investigators removed the wreckage of the car on a truck (pictured) around noon on Sunday
Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said his thoughts were with the victims’ families and friends.
“On behalf of all Victorians, I would like to express my deepest sympathy, thoughts and best wishes,” he said.
I am limited in what I can say. Investigators of the crash scene and the Victoria Police will look into this.
“This will be an incredibly difficult time for those families and friends, and people who love those caught up in this, and we send our best wishes in what will be an incredibly challenging time.
“People need to be assured that there will be a full investigation … so that we can try to understand what happened here,” he said.
Police are urging any witnesses to contact them.
So far this year, 128 people have died on Victoria’s roads, compared to 96 in the same period last year.