Daily London
Emergency services were called to the crash at the intersection of Eurambeen-Streatham Road and Mount William Road at Stoneleigh, west of Ballarat, shortly after 9.30am.
Police said a car carrying three generations of the same Geelong family allegedly drove through a stop sign at the intersection and into the path of a B-double truck.
The car was t-boned by the truck and spun on its wheels multiple times before coming to rest on its passenger side, according to police.
The driver, a 41-year-old male, a 31-year-old female passenger and a three-year-old boy died at the scene.
A woman who was trapped in the rear passenger seat of the car has been airlifted to the Alfred Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The male truck driver suffered minor injuries and was taken to Ballarat Base Hospital in a stable condition.
He lives locally to Stoneleigh and was returning the empty truck, which usually transports potatoes, back to the depot at the time of the crash.
He has been fully cooperative with police and had right of way on the road, police said.
The area has been cordoned off and the surrounding roads blocked as part of the emergency response.
Detective Inspector Craig McEvoy said there were warning signs hundreds of metres before the intersection.
“The truck driver is shaken as you’d expect, he’s with family and friends,” he said.
Speed is not believed to have played a part in the crash at this stage, McEvoy said.
“It’s a terrible scene,” he said.
McEvoy said “catastrophic injuries” and “significant damage to the car” meant police had been unable to move the deceased from the scene as of 3pm.
