Pine Lodge crash: Three ejected from car in ‘devastating and confronting’ crash near Shepparton

He said it appeared five men in a Peugeot hatchback were travelling south on Pine Lodge North Rd and the driver of a Toyota HiLux was travelling west on Cosgrove-Lemnos Rd.

The roads are bitumen and are in a decent condition. Traffic travelling south along Pine Lodge North Rd faces a stop sign, while vehicles going north face a give way sign.

It appeared the hatchback travelled into the path of the ute at the intersection.

“As a result of the collision, three men from the rear of the hatchback have been ejected and have died and the front-seat passenger has also died,” Asst Comm Goldsmith said.

“Exactly how and why that’s occurred is the subject of our investigation.

“The scene up there is devastating and confronting even for experienced investigators. It’s incredibly traumatic for all emergency services there and for the community.”

He said it appeared the three men who were ejected weren’t wearing seatbelts.

“It’s rare people get ejected while wearing seatbelts,” Asst Comm Goldsmith said.

He said the impact was on the passenger side, meaning the only people “with any chance” of surviving would have been on the driver’s side, but the driver was still “incredibly lucky”.

Asst Comm Goldsmith said the Peugeot driver was “expected to be okay”, while the driver of the HiLux was able to walk away from the crash.

The driver of the Peugeot was flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he will have surgery today.

The driver of the HiLux, a 29-year-old Nathalia man, was taken to Goulburn Valley Health with minor injuries.

He was discharged from hospital on Thursday morning.

“He was in shock at the time of the accident, they’ll have a longer chat to him when he’s cleared to do so,” Asst Comm Goldsmith said.

“Some members of the public were on-scene fairly quickly.”

He said police have had difficulty identifying the four deceased people, with no-one in the car aside from the driver having ID on them.

Police believe two were men aged in their 40s, but it is unclear if they lived in the area.

“This is a really awful start to the year,” Asst Comm Goldsmith said.

He said he understood there were warning signs ahead of the intersection, which has stop signs.

“I understand there is a warning sign, as there often is on country roads,” Asst Comm Goldsmith said.

“I know the council has been proactive and been on the scene, and we can make some recommendations if there’s anything glaring.”

He said at this stage there was no indication drugs or alcohol were a factor, while neither car was believed to have been speeding.

“It’s still a high-speed collision, but there isn’t suggestion there’s any excessive speed,” Asst Comm Goldsmith said.

Asst Comm Goldsmith said the situation was “absolutely tragic” but stressed people needed to take care on the roads.

“I’d like to stress these sorts of incidents are avoidable,” he said.

“It’s unfathomable that they’d consider getting in a car without a seatbelt. Twenty-one people last year died because they weren’t wearing a seatbelt. These things are avoidable.

“The ripple effect of this is incredible.”

Another death was recorded on Victorian roads near Sale on Thursday morning, following a death on the Hume Fwy at Tallarook on Wednesday morning.

That brings the road toll to six deaths on Victorian roads so far in 2023, while another two were killed in northern Victoria on New Year’s Eve.