Five killed in Australia after car ploughs into pub patrons
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SYDNEY – Five people, including two children, were killed and several injured at a popular tourist town in rural Australia after a car crashed into a crowd of patrons on the front lawn of a pub, the authorities said on Monday.
Four died at the scene of the accident on Sunday evening in Daylesford, about 110km north-west of Melbourne, Victoria state police said. A girl who was airlifted to a hospital died there later.
The sport utility vehicle mounted a kerb and then drove across a grassed area outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel, Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said during a media briefing.
“There were a large number of people there at that time, at tables... the vehicle collided with those tables and those people,” Mr Patton said.
Police did not specify at this stage if the victims were related and whether speed was a factor, but said those killed were not local residents. All the victims have yet to be formally identified.
The exact circumstances of the accident had yet to be determined, police said. The driver, a 66-year-old man, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver was breath-tested and there was no alcohol in his system. Police said they are planning to interview him later on Monday when he is released from hospital. REUTERS
