Gumleaf
August 27th, 2009, 10:05 PM
11:08 AEST Fri Aug 28 2009
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/855324/three-die-in-fiery-crash-on-f3
The bodies of a young family of three have been removed from the wreckage of their incinerated car, 10 hours after a horrific crash on the F3 freeway on NSW's Central Coast.
Police said two cars stopped on the freeway before a truck struck both vehicles from behind, killing a 27-year-old woman, a 32-year-old man and a five-month-old baby at 10.50pm (AEST) on Thursday.
The impact caused one of the cars and the truck to catch fire.
Police said the bodies of the young family were found in the charred car on the 110 km/h marked stretch of road near the Mount White weigh-bridge.
Two other people were taken to Gosford Hospital with various injuries.
Metropolitan crash investigator Sergeant Peter Jenkins said the family's car was completely "incinerated".
"For some reason the two vehicles have become stationary in lane one, northbound, they're not in the breakdown lane, they're actually still in the traffic lane," he told Macquarie Radio on Friday.
"The young family's car is the southern vehicle, another northbound car has braked and stopped and swerved to miss it and entered into the breakdown lane.
"Since that's happened the truck driver's been exposed to these two vehicles and he's done what he can, but he hasn't been able to avoid these two vehicles."
He said the truck driver was suffering from shock and had been discharged from hospital after speaking to police.
The driver of the second car was taken to Gosford Hospital for treatment, but police have been unable to speak to him.
His condition is unknown.
The family has been identified and some relatives have been notified of their deaths, he said.
Sgt Jenkins played down claims the stretch of road was dangerous, saying he hadn't been able to attribute a serious crash in the area to the design or condition of the road in the past 20 years.
"I think the F3 is actually quite a good stretch of road in most parts," he said.
Police are appealing for information about the crash, calling for any witnesses to come forward.
"Inquiries into the circumstances leading up to the crash are continuing," a police spokesman said.
Police are hopeful of removing the wreckage and opening all northbound lanes of the F3 between Mt White and Calga by midday in readiness for the Friday afternoon peak traffic.
Northbound traffic is being diverted on to the old Pacific Hwy at the Mt White interchange and motorists can re-enter the F3 at Kariong.
Southbound traffic remains unaffected.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/855324/three-die-in-fiery-crash-on-f3
The bodies of a young family of three have been removed from the wreckage of their incinerated car, 10 hours after a horrific crash on the F3 freeway on NSW's Central Coast.
Police said two cars stopped on the freeway before a truck struck both vehicles from behind, killing a 27-year-old woman, a 32-year-old man and a five-month-old baby at 10.50pm (AEST) on Thursday.
The impact caused one of the cars and the truck to catch fire.
Police said the bodies of the young family were found in the charred car on the 110 km/h marked stretch of road near the Mount White weigh-bridge.
Two other people were taken to Gosford Hospital with various injuries.
Metropolitan crash investigator Sergeant Peter Jenkins said the family's car was completely "incinerated".
"For some reason the two vehicles have become stationary in lane one, northbound, they're not in the breakdown lane, they're actually still in the traffic lane," he told Macquarie Radio on Friday.
"The young family's car is the southern vehicle, another northbound car has braked and stopped and swerved to miss it and entered into the breakdown lane.
"Since that's happened the truck driver's been exposed to these two vehicles and he's done what he can, but he hasn't been able to avoid these two vehicles."
He said the truck driver was suffering from shock and had been discharged from hospital after speaking to police.
The driver of the second car was taken to Gosford Hospital for treatment, but police have been unable to speak to him.
His condition is unknown.
The family has been identified and some relatives have been notified of their deaths, he said.
Sgt Jenkins played down claims the stretch of road was dangerous, saying he hadn't been able to attribute a serious crash in the area to the design or condition of the road in the past 20 years.
"I think the F3 is actually quite a good stretch of road in most parts," he said.
Police are appealing for information about the crash, calling for any witnesses to come forward.
"Inquiries into the circumstances leading up to the crash are continuing," a police spokesman said.
Police are hopeful of removing the wreckage and opening all northbound lanes of the F3 between Mt White and Calga by midday in readiness for the Friday afternoon peak traffic.
Northbound traffic is being diverted on to the old Pacific Hwy at the Mt White interchange and motorists can re-enter the F3 at Kariong.
Southbound traffic remains unaffected.