Tas: Five seriously injured as car strikes pole on King Island
29 Dec 2008 8:34 PM
HOBART, Dec 29 AAP - Five Victorian tourists were seriously injured when their car struck a power pole on King Island, off Tasmania's north-west tip.
Four of the injured were flown to Melbourne and a fifth patient was flown to Burnie following the crash on Yarra Creek Road at Lynwood, near Grassy, on the Bass Strait island's south-east coast, about 1.40pm (AEDT) on Monday.
The driver, a 41-year-old man, lost control of the white Mitsubishi Magna sedan on the gravel surface and struck the pole, police said.
"It appears at this stage, inexperience on gravel roads and speed may have been a contributing factor," a police spokesperson said.
The five suffered a range of head, chest and spinal injuries.
Two people were critically injured. The remaining occupants were listed in a serious condition.
The driver was taken to the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie in Tasmania's north.
Ambulance Victoria spokesman Ray Rowe said a fixed-wing aircraft ferried a man and a child to Melbourne.
The man in his 30s, believed to be suffering upper body injuries, was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
The child, aged about 4, went to the Royal Children's Hospital.
A rescue helicopter from Latrobe Valley, south-east of Melbourne, ferried two women, both aged in their 30s, to The Alfred Hospital.
It's thought one was suffering chest and abdominal injuries.
Anyone who witnessed or saw the car prior to the crash should contact police at Currie on King Island or Crime Stoppers.
