Five family members killed on NSW road

A young mother tried to shelter her baby as a car was hit and crushed by a truck
killing them and three other relatives, including her husband, just south of Sydney
on Sunday.

The five family members, on a day trip from Sydney, died instantly - with the
23-year-old mother being found protectively covering her three-month-old baby.
Also killed was the woman's husband and two women believed to be his sisters, all
aged in their 40s, police said.
Their car was hit by a water truck on a sweeping bend in a 100km/h zone about 8.15am
(AEDT) on Picton Road, near Wilton, south of Sydney.
Hours later, a fatal crash further north near Grafton, claimed the lives of two
women while three passengers, believed to be their teenaged daughters, received
minor injuries.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner John Hartley said it was a "shocking, shocking
day" on the state's roads.
"I can't remember a day as bad as this in 15 years," he said.
Ambulance NSW paramedic David Morris described the Wilton crash as "one of those
things you never want to turn up to" while other authorities labelled it absolute
carnage.
The car was pushed about 200m along the road after being struck, and was so mangled
that it took police hours to determine how many people were inside.
Emergency services had to cut off the roof to retrieve the bodies, revealing the
Pendle Hill family and the young child in a capsule.
"It's something that no humans should have to see," Assistant Commissioner John
Hartley told AAP.
"The woman was trying to shelter her baby by putting her hands over the top the baby.
"The last seconds of their lives would have been something you couldn't comprehend."
Assistant commissioner Hartley said it was believed the family's car lost control
after it clipped another vehicle travelling in the same direction on a dual
carriageway.
"Somehow they have touched each other at some stage and the vehicle has left the
roadway, then spun back across the road and into the path of the oncoming truck,"
commissioner Hartley said.
"We haven't had this much carnage on our roads in a long time ... it's been about
five years since an entire family was killed."
The family was travelling to Wollongong for a day trip, and relatives in a separate
vehicle saw the tragedy unfold.
It is believed they had recently settled in Australia from Afghanistan, the Nine
Network reported.
Police have ruled out speed and fatigue, and both drivers have been blood tested for
alcohol.
But it was believed neither had been drinking, Commissioner Hartley said.
The male truck driver has been taken to Campbelltown hospital suffering shock.
Picton Road was closed in both directions between Mount Ousley and the Hume Highway
for most of the day as investigations continued.
The state's road toll jumped to seven at noon when a single vehicle crash killed two
women.
The driver and another female died in the accident while three young teenaged
passengers, believed to be their daughters, were taken to the Grafton Base Hospital
for treatment of minor injuries.
A hospital spokesman said the girls were in a stable condition.
In a third incident, a 56-year-old motorcyclist is believed to have lost an arm and
a leg and suffered spinal injuries in a collision with a car between South West
Rocks and Kempsey, on the NSW mid-north coast, about 12.10pm.