Two women are dead, seven others have been injured – including one fighting for life – and a truck driver has been charged after the heavy vehicle, two cars and a ute collided on the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide.
A semi-trailer jack-knifed and partly overturned after the collision on Main South Road at Wattle Flat just after 12pm (12.40pm AEDT) today.
A driver ended up trapped inside a white ute, while one car had its side torn off from the impact of the crash and a second car ended up wedged sideways against a crash barrier.
A silver Ford sedan was the worst impacted, leaving two women in the back seat dead and the 43-year-old man driving fighting for life. A 44-year-old woman died at the scene and the other, whose age wasn’t released, died in hospital.
A 48-year-old Hay Flat man driving the white ute was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
The 38-year-old woman driving a black Ford sedan and her two passengers – a 45-year-old man and a 10-year-old girl – were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The truck driver, a 35-year-old Victor Harbor man, was taken to hospital with minor injuries and arrested by Major Crash investigators.
They charged him with two counts of cause death by dangerous driving, two counts of cause serious harm by dangerous driving and four counts of cause harm by dangerous driving.
Inspectors remained at the scene into the afternoon to investigate what had gone so terribly wrong.
Main South Road was expected to remain closed to all traffic between Pyne Hill Road and Forktree Road until at least 11pm today.
Locals told 9News the stretch of road is notorious for close calls, especially on its bends.
