ENGULFED: Police are investigating the circumstances leading up to the single vehicle crash in which two people died. Picture: Jodie Donnellan
THE identities of two people who died in a car crash on the Northern Highway near Heathcote yesterday at about 5pm are being investigated by police.
The Holden Commodore was travelling north along the highway after Drummonds Lane when it drove off the road, collided into a tree and was engulfed in flames yesterday evening.
The fire gutted the car and blackened the tree trunk up to seven metres from the ground.
Senior Sergeant Paul Gardiner from the Bendigo highway patrol said it was still unknown why the vehicle veered off the road.
“We still have a lot of investigation to go,” Sergeant Gardiner said.
“Unfortunately due to the intense nature of the fire, we’ve lost a lot of identifying features off the vehicle as well.
“There’s not a lot there at this stage to go on but that will be the start of our investigation.”
He said it may take up to three days for the coroners and forensics to formally identify who was in the vehicle.
“Forensics and the coroner court will have to do the investigations for regarding the occupants and that may take a couple of days.”
The crash brings the road toll in central Victorian to three this year, after a woman in her 70s died when her car collided with a truck in Elmore on January 13.
The Victorian provisional road toll this year is 24, down from 33 last year.
