Mum fighting for life in hospital after driving on wrong side of road before head-on truck collision
The family of a single mum left fighting for life after she drove on the wrong side of an Australian freeway and collided head-on with a truck say the mistake could happen to anyone.
Paulina Prieto, 36, was heading home in the early hours of Friday morning when she turned at an intersection and travelled against traffic on the city-bound lanes of Melbourne 's CityLink.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Daughter of woman left fighting for life after crash urges public for help.
She crashed head-on into a truck inside the tunnel at Burnley just after 2am and was rushed to hospital with critical injuries.
The truck driver was not injured.
'My heart just kind of stopped. I didn't really know what to think,' Prieto's 14-year-old daughter Monse Romero told 7NEWS.
'It was really shocking the first two days. I did cry a little bit.'
Family say the mum, who works three jobs, had a moment of confusion after taking a wrong turn, and believe her mistake could happen to anyone.
'We thought that if she had been travelling down the wrong way for such a long time there would be some signs or some signals or some sort of alerts to let her know or the other driver,' family friend Sebastian Alberti said.
'There's a lot of questions why she wasn't notified or why the truck driver [wasn't] notified.'
The mother remains in an induced coma at The Alfred Hospital but is slowly making improvements each day.
'It's hard her not talking back to me and not making the jokes we make,' her daughter said.
Her family is preparing for a long recovery and a GoFundMe has been launched to assist with costs while she is in hospital.
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West Australian
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Mr Pether was arrested following a dispute with the Iraqi government and his employer, a consulting firm working on headquarters for the country's central bank. He was sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison and fined millions of dollars. A United Nations report on arbitrary detention detailed allegations that Mr Pether was subject to extreme cold, humiliation, threats of death and forms of psychological abuse, including being shown a torture room. Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed Mr Pether's release. "I know the personal toll Mr Pether's detention has taken on him and his family and hope this news brings a measure of relief after years of distress," she said in a statement. "While Mr Pether remains subject to legal proceedings in Iraq, this is a positive development and follows persistent Australian government advocacy over many years. "His case has been raised with Iraqi authorities over 200 times, including at the highest level by the prime minister and myself." Mr Pether wrote a letter in 2024 expressing concern for his health. Senator Wong said officials would continue to press the case for the Australian in Iraq. "We will continue to support Mr Pether and his family and to advocate for Mr Pether's interests and wellbeing," she said. "I want to thank Australian officials for their tireless work on Mr Pether's case, including Australia's special envoy who travelled to Iraq in recent weeks to negotiate for this outcome." An Australian man detained in an Iraqi prison for nearly four years has been released on bail. Engineer Robert Pether was granted conditional release after being detained on misrepresentation and fraud charges. Mr Pether was arrested following a dispute with the Iraqi government and his employer, a consulting firm working on headquarters for the country's central bank. He was sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison and fined millions of dollars. 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