Four young children have been killed – three of them siblings – when they were hit by a drunk driver while riding their bicycles to buy ice-cream in Sydney’s north-west.
Traumatic scenes unfolded in Oatlands, near Paramatta, on Saturday night when a four-wheel drive ute mounted the kerb and slammed into a group of seven kids on the footpath.
The children were reportedly out with a babysitter when the Mitsubishi dual cab ploughed into them on Bettington Street about 8pm.
The nightmarish accident happened not far from the family home in a suburban street with a 50km/hr speed limit.
Emergency responders described “chaos” and “carnage” as more than a dozen paramedics worked desperately to save the young ones’ lives and treat the injured.
But their efforts were not enough, with a boy, his two sisters and a family friend – all believed to be under the age of 12 – declared dead at the scene.
A fifth child was transported to The Children’s Hospital in Westmead in a critical condition while two other girls aged 10 and 13 were taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.
NSW police said a 29-year-old driver was arrested and taken to Castle Hill police station after returning a positive result in a roadside breath test.
Three of the dead were from a family of six children who were known in the local area, according to The Daily Telegraph.
“I can’t even comprehend it,” a friend of the father told the newspaper.
“He has six kids – he’s lost half his family. They’ve lived here for years – (he is) a builder – everyone around here knows him.”
A local described how residents tried frantically to save the children as people rushed to help.
“People ran over and were doing CPR until the paramedics got here,” the witness said.
“One woman was screaming out ‘save them, save them’.”
Acting superintendent NSW Ambulance Andrew McAlpine said paramedics had arrived to a horrific scene.
“When the first crews arrived on scene they were met with carnage, a very, very difficult scene with a lot of chaos,” he said.
“This is incredibly hard for all the emergency services, notwithstanding the loss the families have sustained.”
Police said the family were at the hospital with relatives.
“They’re obviously very distraught and under these circumstances we can’t provide much information to them at this stage so that’s difficult for them,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Jason Joyce said.
Acting superintendent for Police NSW Danielle Emerton said the families of the children were front of mind.
“This is about the families … they have lost four children and three are in hospital and it must be devastating for them,” she said.
-with AAP
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