Two saved by ‘heroes’
HEROIC efforts from passersby saved the lives of two people but a third tragically died after the car they were travelling in rolled, hit a tree and burst into flames about 40km south of Katherine.
NT Police Major Crash Investigations detective Senior Sergeant Brendan Lindner said a number of passers-by stopped to assist with the crash on the Stuart Hwy on Friday night.
“HEROIC efforts” from passers-by saved the lives of two people — but a third died after the car they were travelling in rolled, hit a tree and burst into flames about 40km south of Katherine.
NT Police Major Crash Investigations detective Senior Sergeant Brendan Lindner said a number of passers-by stopped to help after the crash on the Stuart Highway on Friday night.
“About half a dozen people stopped to assist to extricate the people from the car, which was on its side against a tree,” he said.
“They managed to extricate two people from the car who survived the crash.
“Tragically, the third person was unable to be removed from the vehicle, despite the heroic efforts, and died at the scene.
“The car was extensively on fire. Despite that, the passers-by actually used their own vehicle to right the vehicle as the deceased was trapped on the under side of the car. We saw some incredibly brave action by the passers-by — they managed to rescue two survivors.”
A man and a woman, both aged 48 and believed to live in the Katherine region, remain in hospital, but it is believed their injuries are non-life threatening.
“Alcohol’s quite possibly involved, but that will be confirmed in due course,” Sergeant Lindner said.
He said there had been a number of concerning incidents on the roads since the borders reopened last weekend. “It’s been a particularly bad week on roads across the
Territory. There’s been 21 crashes involving serious injuries or death in one week. Eight of those involved vehicles rolling over,” he said.
“We continue to see a certain percentage of Territorians disobey the road rules and place themselves and others at risk on the roads, so we urge Territorians to drive safely on the roads — expect more people on the roads, tourists on the roads.”