Three die in shocking five-vehicle collision on the Western Highway, Victoria
Police say two cars, a B-double and two smaller trucks collided on the Western Highway, near the town of Armstrong, about 12.30pm on Wednesday.
Senior Sergeant Paul Lineham described the scene as 'absolute carnage'.
Senior Sergeant Paul Lineham said the two cars were heading eastbound on the Western Highway before the fatal collision.
'The rear most car of those two (cars) struck the first car, forcing it to cross the opposite side of the road,' he told ABC News.
'At the same time, we've got a Krueger heading westbound, following by a semi trailer … unfortunately, the first car that crossed the road was hit by the Krueger and the trailer went over both cars at that stage.'
The driver of the car and two occupants in the truck were pronounced dead at the scene. They are yet to be formally identified.
The driver of the other car was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Ambulance Victoria said two other people – a woman in her 80s and a man in his 60s – were taken Ballarat Hospital.
Detectives are investigating the circumstances behind the collision and it is expected the highway will be closed until Thursday.
'It's absolute carnage down there,' Sergeant Lineham said.
'We've got a vehicle, a B-double on the side, we've got multiple cars involved there.
'We're now sorting through as to what exactly had happened, and again everything we look at there – road conditions, driving conditions, distractions or attention impairment are all part of the investigation'.
Sergeant Lineham implored 'drivers to pay attention to the road', amid the rising number of collisions across Victoria in the past few weeks.
'Over the last three weeks there has pretty much been carnage on Victorian roads,' he said.
'There is no pattern of behaviour that we've found so far as to have caused so many road deaths.
The Western Highway expected to be closed until the early hours of Thursday morning while investigations continue.
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