HORROR CRASH

DARWIN MOTHER AND DAUGHTER KILLED IN ROAD TRAGEDY, SON FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE

A TERRITORY man in an induced coma will wake up to learn his wife and daughter have been killed and his two sons hospitalised after a horror crash in Victoria.

The mother, 45, and daughter, 7, were killed when a P-plate driver crashed into the family’s full car on the Princes Highway at Rosedale, about 190km east of Melbourne on Friday.

The children’s father, a Royal Australian Air Force serviceman, 47, was in a stable condition at The Alfred, but one son was yesterday in a critical condition. The youngest son, 4, escaped serious injury.

Names had not been confirmed at the time of print, but the family is believed to be from the Darwin area.

Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill said the 20-year-old driver of the other car had spoken to crash investigators at his hospital bedside.

The Sunday Territorian understands that the injured father had been communicating. ‘‘He will recover from his physical injuries as I under- stand but the emotional torment will stay with him for life,’’ Mr Hill said.

‘‘We’ve got a family now struck down by this particular event and a father now has to bring up two young boys without their mother. And he now needs to work through the fact that he no longer has his only daughter with him.’’

Defence has released a state- ment of support for the family.

‘‘Our thoughts on this occasion are not only for the injured ADF member, but also for other members of his family who were so tragically affected in this horrific accident,’’ it said.

‘‘Defence is currently providing support to the member and his family who have requested privacy at this difficult time.’’