The vehicles will undergo maintenance over night.

A BP spokesperson said the company hoped all trucks would be back on the road by Friday morning.

EARLIER: OIL giant BP has pulled its trucks off Victoria’s roads after three people, including a young child, were killed when a petrol tanker rolled onto a car in the state’s north-east .

The crash happened about 9.30am on the Yackandandah-Wodonga Road in Staghorn Flat, about 15 kilometres south of Wodonga, on Thursday.

It claimed the lives of a 67-year-old Yackandandah woman in one car and a woman, 33, and a four-year-old boy, from Allan's Flat, in a second vehicle, Victoria Police said.

Police believe that the petrol tanker was travelling south along the road when the trailer became detached as the vehicle went around a left hand bend.

Police have been told the trailer drifted across the roadway colliding with two on-coming cars.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said it appeared part of the petrol tanker had rolled onto the vehicle.

“A trailer has come away from the truck - it sounds like it's a petrol trailer - and that trailer has rolled onto a car,” he said.

A BP spokesman said the company was “deeply saddened that there have been loss of life” and pulled its Victorian fleet off the road as a precaution.

“We can confirm that the incident did not result in the release of any fuel from the product tanker,” he said.

“In addition to fully supporting external investigations being conducted by the authorities as a matter of precaution, we have today recalled all of our Victorian trucking fleet.”

Local resident Jacqui Scott said the deaths would devastate the small community, which was still coming to grips with the deaths of two young local girls who were killed in a crash near the same stretch of road in January.

“It’s generally the locals using that road, so I was concerned it might have been locals involved and have been calling around neighbours,” she said.

Another car was involved in the crash but the passengers in that vehicle escaped injury.

Police said the truck driver, who was also not injured, was a local man, aged 50, and was helping with their enquiries.

The Major Crash Investigations Unit arrived at the scene mid-afternoon.

Police have asked that anyone who witnessed the crash to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.