NSW: Parents remain in critical condition after fiery crash

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-2009
NSW: Parents remain in critical condition after fiery crash

CANBERRA, Dec 29 AAP - A couple remain in a critical condition a day after their two
daughters were killed in a fiery crash at a notorious accident hotspot on the NSW south
coast.

The family of four was travelling on the Princes Highway at East Lynne, about 20km
north of Batemans Bay, on Monday, when their car collided head on with a fuel tanker.

Police believe the truck, laden with diesel fuel, had drifted to the wrong side of
the road before crashing into three other cars on a stretch of highway locals labelled
dangerous.

The 36-year-old male truck driver died on impact, along with the two girls, aged 13
and 11, police confirmed on Tuesday.

Their parents, including one suffering burns to 80 per cent of their body, were taken
to separate hospitals in Sydney, where they both remain in a critical condition.

The family were locals from Ulladulla.

Four other people suffered minor injuries, including one woman in her 50s who was discharged
from Batemans Bay Hospital on Monday night.

East Lynne resident Sandra Smith could see the smoke from her house and said the area
where the crash occurred was an accident blackspot.

"It's quite a dangerous stretch, there's a dip where the little bridge is and it is
an older stretch of road," she told AAP.

"But I guess it's just the speed that people take it really."

Ms Smith, who used to run the local garage in town, said there were frequent accidents
and backed a lowering of the speed limit from 100km/h to 80km/h.

Emergency service personnel and RTA workers remain at the scene, where the northbound
lane remains closed.

All efforts were being made to open the highway as soon as possible, an RTA spokesman said.

East Lynne Store owner Michelle Lewis said she'd heard of multiple accidents at that corner.

"It's narrow, it's windy, it hasn't been upgraded for I don't know how long," she said.

"And it's getting busier every year. It's really quite a bad road."

The crash brings the NSW holiday road toll to 17.

It was a reminder to all motorists to be wary of road conditions, Shoalhaven Police
Commander Wayne Starling told Fairfax Radio.

"What it comes back to is drivers are responsible for their own actions," he said.

"We've just got to slow down, we've just got to drive to the road conditions and have
a rest when we can."

Federal Liberal MP Joanna Gash said she'd been advocating to fix that stretch of highway,
saying it has been a problem for as long as she could remember.



(EDS: National road toll figures are for the period 0001 December 18 to 2359 January
3. Some states and territories have different periods.)

AAP cj/cdh

KEYWORD: TOLL NSW UPDATE

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