A CAR CRASHED into an Australian pub’s outdoor dining area yesterday, killing five people and injuring six others including the driver, officials have said.
The 66-year-old driver of the luxury BMW SUV was taken to a hospital after the crash at the crowded Royal Daylesford Hotel beer garden in the rural town of Daylesford, northwest of Melbourne, yesterday evening, police said.
The driver suffered shock and minor injuries and remained under police guard, Victoria Police chief commissioner Shane Patton said.
Police investigators said today that they are trying to determine how the car came to mount a curb and crash into the roadside dining area.
The driver tested negative for alcohol and his blood was being analysed for other impairing substances, Patton said.
A boy, two men in their 30s and a woman in her 40s died at the scene, police said.
A teenage girl was flown to a Melbourne hospital where she died last night.
Two boys, aged 11 months and around six years old, were taken to hospitals in stable conditions.
Three adults remained in a Melbourne hospital today, including a 35-year-old woman who was in intensive care.
Police have yet to interview the driver, whose only prior record was for speeding offenses.
Investigators did not yet know if excessive speed was a factor in the accident, Patton said.
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