Four dead, five injured in minivan crash in Muckatah, near Victoria-NSW border
Updated ,first published
4 people died and 5 people were seriously injured when a minibus left the road and crashed into a tree in northern Victoria.
Police said nine people were in the vehicle when the driver lost control Monday afternoon. Three children were airlifted to hospital.
The crash, which happened around 5pm on Chapel Road in Muckatah, about 10 kilometers south of Cobram, will be investigated by major collision detectives. The road remained closed on Monday evening.
The ages of the four people who died are not yet known. The remaining five people were all seriously injured.
Ambulance paramedics confirmed they took a teenage girl to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and two other children to the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Another teenage girl was transported to hospital in Shepparton by road ambulance and a man is expected to be taken to hospital by ambulance plane.
Anyone who witnessed the crash, has CCTV or dashcam footage or has information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online.
Nearby Katamatite resident Julie Ballard said Chapel Road had been the scene of a number of crashes in recent years.
“I’m not sure why, it’s not a particularly dangerous road; most of it is closed, there aren’t a lot of trees,” he said. “When I saw the news I was like, ‘Oh, another one?’ I thought.
Kim Clarke, who lives on Chapel Road, said police told residents not to approach the scene of the accident because no one should see the scene.
He said around 5pm he heard a noise and realized a police car had arrived, followed by a screaming ambulance.
“We only suffer from the families, their [the occupants] They were originally fruit pickers. There are a few orchards around here and peaches are in season.”
Chapel Road has one lane in each direction and the speed limit is 100, Clarke said. She said police told her husband the road probably wouldn’t reopen until Tuesday afternoon.
The crash was the second of a number of fatal road accidents in the Moira Shire local government area in three years.
Five people died after their Nissan Navara was struck by another vehicle at Strathmerton, west of Cobram, in April 2023. In January, a driver was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of dangerous driving causing death.
The minivan crash in Muckatah was the second fatal incident on Victoria’s roads on Monday. A 32-year-old man died after his car crashed into a tree at 7am in the Wimmera town of Kaniva in Victoria’s north-west.
Victoria’s road toll for 2025 is currently at 279, the same as this time last year. More than half of these are deaths on rural roads.
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