The 66-year-old driver of the luxury BMW SUV was taken to a hospital after the crash at the crowded Royal Daylesford Hotel beer garden in the rural town of Daylesford, northwest of Melbourne, on Sunday evening, police said.
The driver suffered shock and minor injuries and remained under police guard, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said.
Police investigators are trying to determine how the car came to mount a curb and crash into the roadside dining area. The driver tested negative for alcohol and his blood was being analysed for other impairing substances, Patton said.
A boy, two men in their 30s and a woman in her 40s died at the scene, police said. A teenage girl was flown to a Melbourne hospital where she died on Sunday night.
Two boys, aged 11 months and around 6 years old, were taken to hospitals in stable conditions.
Three adults remained in a Melbourne hospital on Monday, including a 35-year-old woman who was in intensive care.
Police have yet to interview the driver, whose only prior record was for speeding offences. Investigators did not yet know if excessive speed was a factor in the accident, Patton said.Witnesses have described horrific scenes after a car crashed into a pub’s beer garden in Daylesford on Sunday night, killing five people including a young boy and a teenage girl.
Seven others were injured when a white BMW SUV struck patrons outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel in Vincent Street about 6.05pm. They included a young boy who was flown to hospital in a critical condition.
The damaged white BMW SUV remained outside the pub on Sunday night as investigations continued.
The driver, a 66-year-old man from Mount Macedon, was also taken to hospital. Police had hoped to speak to him overnight to determine the circumstances that led to his car mounting the kerb and crashing into patrons.
A healthcare worker, who asked not to be named, said she arrived at the scene to find a pair of children’s shoes strewn a long distance from one another.
Superintendent John Fitzpatrick addresses the media outside the hotel on Sunday night.
“I also saw at least four phones on the road,” she said. “It was so real. So human.”
The worker said it had been “one of those perfect nights” with the sun setting before the crash. “That absolute perfection has just been shattered in an instant.”
She said some people in the street were visibly shocked and distraught at what they had witnessed.
“As I was walking away from the scene there was a tradesman standing next to his ute crying on the phone, saying ‘what I’ve just seen I will never be able to unsee’.”
Police released a statement in the early hours of Monday stating that two men and a woman, as well as a young child, died at the scene.
A teenage girl was flown to hospital but later died, a police spokesman said.
Death toll from horrific crash in regional Victoria rises to five
Five people dead after car ploughs into pub in regional Victoria.
A young boy was critically injured, and another boy and two adults were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The victims are yet to be formally identified, police said.
Head of Road Policing Operations, Superintendent John Fitzpatrick, said witnesses and emergency services personnel faced a confronting scene as they helped those injured.
“No one wants to see what has occurred here,” Fitzpatrick said.
“But it is amazing what people do when others are injured. From what I’ve been told, there were a lot of people who attended to those who have been injured and killed.
“Out of a terrible set of circumstances, people have really done the right thing and tried to help.”
Rhonda White witnessed the immediate aftermath from the nearby RSL club, describing the collision as “a nightmare”.
“There were so many people that ran to the rescue. Fifteen minutes later the police arrived,” she said.
“(Bystanders) were looking after people. One of the girls that was sitting with me went over and did CPR on a man.”
Rhonda White witnessed the immediate aftermath of the crash from the nearby RSL club.
While they waited for ambulances to arrive, “it was just bedlam”, White said.
She said police interviewed the driver of the vehicle at the scene.
Fitzpatrick said police would have a difficult time identifying those who died, those who were taken to hospital and then notifying their family members, but that work had already begun.
“We are working through that as it is a very complex scene,” he said.
Emergency services raced to the scene and cordoned off Vincent Street, the main street through the town shortly after the accident happened.
Emergency services at the scene of the fatal crash in Daylesford.
The BMW, with significant damage, remained in the street outside the pub on Sunday evening as police and emergency services moved around the accident area.
Dozens of people were standing at the scene in shock as emergency services, including the SES, the CFA and police, attended the crash site
Jese Leith, who owns a cafe and bar nearby in Vincent Street, said he heard a commotion in the street immediately after the crash.
“There was yelling and an eruption of noise in the street,” he said.
Leith closed his business early following the crash and said many others had done the same. He said the mood was sombre among the business owners and workers.
“We’ve been saying how no one remembers anything like this happening in Daylesford,” he said. “It’s a shock for a small town like this.”
Leith said emergency services had put up orange drapes around the scene of the tragedy.
Hepburn Shire Mayor Brian Hood said the hotel was typically busy with patrons, particularly on a long weekend.
Seven people were injured, including a young boy who remains in a critical condition.
Seven people were injured, including a young boy who remains in a critical condition.
“I can only imagine there would be a lot of people sitting out there. There are a lot of tables and chairs,” he said.
Hood said he was unaware of any other crashes at that Vincent Street roundabout.
“There certainly hasn’t been any recently,” he said.
Hood said the location was a busy intersection where drivers tended to slow down.