Fed: National toll rises to 23

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-2009
Fed: National toll rises to 23

MELBOURNE, Dec 21 AAP - The national Christmas road toll stands at 23 after a woman
died in a horror head-on crash in Melbourne's outer east.

A Toyota Corolla and a utility collided head-on on the Warburton Highway at Launching
Place at about 5.25pm (AEDT) on Monday.

Ambulance Victoria group manager Frank Cummane said paramedics and an ambulance helicopter
arrived to find a distressing scene.

"The cars were destroyed and unfortunately a woman aged in her 40s was dead on arrival,"

he said in a statement.

"It appeared the cars had collided head on, heavily trapping both the woman and a seven-year-old
girl.

"The girl was trapped by her legs for nearly an hour as the CFA (Country Fire Authority)
and SES (State Emergency Service) worked to cut her free.

"She suffered serious leg fractures and we could access her through the debris, treating
her with pain relief through an inhaler.

"We gave her some oxygen to help her breathing and used an ECG monitor to check her heart."

Firefighters freed the girl at 6.20pm, and she was flown to the Royal Children's Hospital
in a serious condition.

The dead woman was the Toyota driver, police said.

A man from the utility was taken by road to the Maroondah Hospital as a precaution.

Ten people have lost their lives on NSW roads, five in Victoria and three in Queensland.

Two people have been killed in Western Australia, while one person has died in each
of South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

The Australian Capital Territory remains fatality-free.

(EDS: National road toll figures are for the period 0001 December 18 to 2359 January
3. Some states and territories have different periods.)



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KEYWORD: TOLL NATIONAL UPDATE (WITH FACTBOX)

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