A Veteran firefighter said a crash in which a teenager died was one of the worst he had seen in 26 years.A 17-year-old Pambula girl was killed when the red Hyundai Excel she was driving slammed into a tree on the Princes Hwy, 1km north of Eden, about 3.40am yesterday.A 15-year-old Merimbula boy, a 15-year-old Bemboka girl and a 13-year-old boy from Merimbula were seriously injured.
Pay tribute by posting a message below VIDEO: Driver wanted to be police officer EDITORIAL: Highway not sole culprit in fatal crashesThey were taken to Canberra Hospital. Last night the girl's condition was critical, while the boys' were serious but stable.It's believed the 15-year-old girl lost both legs in the crash and sustained neck and chest injuries. One boy sustained a severe head injury, while the other had injuries to both legs.Eight people have now died on the Princes Hwy south of Wollongong in just over a month, with seven of those deaths on the Far South Coast.The Mercury understands that Little Bellbird Hill, where the accident occurred, is an accident black spot and has been the scene of several recent accidents.In 2008, Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich described the Princes Hwy as "unforgiving" after an inquest into 19 deaths along a 430km stretch of the Princes Hwy between Yallah and the Victorian border."The consequences of simple driver errors in such an environment may be catastrophic," he said.The words rang true again yesterday.Eden Fire Brigade captain Nemec Zlatko said some of the six firefighters who attended yesterday's crash knew the families of the young people in the wreckage."In the 26 years I have been in the Fire Brigades, it would be in the top five worst crashes I have seen," he said. "What is hard about it for the emergency services is they are all very young kids, between 13 and 18 years of age, and probably shouldn't have been on the road."The car was travelling downhill, only a couple of kilometres from Eden, when it lost control and slammed into a tree near the bottom of the hill.The impact was so severe police could not initially establish who was driving the vehicle."The vehicle hit the tree extremely hard and you almost couldn't tell the front of the vehicle from the back," Mr Zlatko said.Firefighters spent 21/2 hours at the scene. Some were required to drive ambulances to Pambula so paramedics could continue treating and stabilising the patients. The Princes Hwy was partially closed until early yesterday afternoon.Police wouldn't comment on what caused the crash or whether there was a licensed driver in the car.
