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At least four people have died after a car veered off a road in Victoria’s north east and burst into flames.
The burnt-out car was found on Mansfield-Woods Point Road in Piries, and emergency services were called to the scene at 7.45am when a passer by saw a car on fire off the road.
The vehicle and its occupants were “fully involved” in fire.
As of Sunday afternoon, police had yet to confirm the total number of fatalities but said they believed four people had died inside the vehicle.
Early investigations suggest the driver of the vehicle lost control, hit an embankment and spun off the road, with the car crashing into a paddock and bursting into flames.
Road Policing Command assistant commissioner Glenn Weir said all causation factors, including speed, would form part of the investigation.
He noted the area was known to be a high traffic area for kangaroo and deer, and that would also be investigated.
The victims are yet to be identified, but police believe they could be colleagues from around the Shepparton area who were travelling together in a rental car.
The rental car company has been contacted as police race to determine who was inside the vehicle.
“This is going to be a complex investigation. Disaster victim identification personnel are on scene,” Assistant Commissioner Weir said.
He said it was not known yet whether the victims had been killed by the crash or by fire, but that would all be forensically examined.
“I’m hopeful we might find someone who drove along the road earlier than (the 7.45am witness) to give us a better timeline (of what happened),” he said.
An aerial photograph from the scene earlier shows the road to be narrow and surrounded by trees on one side, with a sharp drop on the other.
Piries is nearby the small town of Mansfield, about 214 km north-east from Melbourne.
Sunday’s quadruple fatality follows last Sunday’s tragedy in Daylesford, and brings the Victorian road toll to 256.
“This collision is the latest in a series of multi-death collisions we’ve had in Victoria this year,” Assistant Commissioner Weir said.
“There are 34 extra lives lost from multi-vehicle fatalities this year.
“The last time we saw a (road toll of 256) was in 2008.”
He said Victoria police would “continue our efforts to try and limit the carnage on Victoria’s roads”.
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