Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me on the line right now is the Northern
Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy. Good morning to your commissioner.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, Katie, Good morning, Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Six lives lost, one of those believed to be a child.
What do we know so far about this terrible crash?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Look, firstly, you know, the thoughts are with the community
and everyone involved, first responders and people who have actually
driven past it, because it's very distressing, very traumatic, and
very upsetting for the Northern Terrechiary community. They pointed out
just before five o'clock on Friday, about twelve kilometers south
of Pine Creek, a road train has collided with a
(00:42):
gray Paguero and as we know now contained six people.
We understand there's a number of children in that vehicle,
which is very upsetting, and we obviously confirmed there was
one infant, but there's looks like there's a number of
children in that vehicle after their collision, that both the
(01:03):
vehicles have caught on fire. I know, the heroism of
the truck driver and his colleague who made an effort
to try and save life but just couldn't in the circumstances,
just cause it was you know, on the fire and
very dangerous and you know they went to Catherine Hospital
and were treated, but you know, the psychological trauma for
(01:25):
them would be just incredible to our thoughts with them
across the weekend we've been down at the site. You know,
our thoughts and you know, but the professionalism are first
responders and services, the police, Saint John's, the fire service,
emergency services, all those involved have been absolutely incredible. You know.
(01:47):
We've had the Disaster Victim Identification team down there for
a number of days because of the the actual scene
and the circumstances around the crash, and we've had to
collect obviously evidentiary material to look at identifications and that's
where the science will come into it now with forensic services,
and we're hoping that we may have some answers by
(02:10):
Thursday through our DNA process so it can actually confirm
with family and who's involved. We have some idea of
the vehicle left Catherine around about two thirty the Pagero
and traveled north where it's had the crash. We're asking
for people who may have seen the vehicle. It's a
(02:31):
great Pagero and it's Northern Churchary registered c D five
six ww IF anyone's seen it or has any dashcam
footage trucks going past, or cars or may have seen
at the side of the road, if they can bring
up a one three one triple four and quite a
reference number for me, it's one oh four seven zero
(02:51):
seven two four. That's one o four seven zero seven
two four. That's so two. Lots lots of investigative arms
in this. We've got obviously the odification and the closure
for family and that respectful pathway, and we've also got
the reasons about why this has happened. Yeah, you know,
we're up to about nineteen and the road our depths
on the Northern Churchiy Roads compared to over forty the
(03:13):
same time last year. But nineteen deaths is way too
many deaths on the Northern Churchy roads. And we've got
the school holidays at the moment, and we've got people
moving about returning back to jurisdictions because the wet season's approaching,
so we've got a few vehicles on the road. I
just urge everyone please drive carefully, drive within your limitations,
make sure you don't get tied and plan your trip,
(03:34):
don't drink and drive, don't be distracted so you know
we're on this crash. We've got to make sure, you know,
all avenues are explored and ruled out, whether it's distraction, fatigue, alcohol,
We just don't know the answers yet, but we need
to work out why.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, inquiring, it seems like there are a lot of
questions that still remain unanswered. Police Commissioner, can I just
ask you said that it's now believed it it's a
number of children that were in that car, do you
know how many?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I can't be definity if we just know that there's
a number of young people where you can assume that
some mum and dad and children at this point, and
it looks like they're probably from the Big Rivers area
of the Northern Territory. So incredibly sad and it's going
to be very impacting upon and it is now on
the Northern Territory community. But once, you know, we say,
(04:26):
once that identification is revealed and it's you know, it
comes home a lot harder for the territory. So that's
where we just need to look after each other, you know,
and you know the first responders as well. You know
that's I've set it before. This is very traumatic and
distressing and upsetting response, and it'll take its toll, whether
(04:46):
it's immediate or you know, sometime in the future. But
you know, the hard work and the incredible professionalism of
our people that roll out to such tragedy is commendable.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Police Commissioner. That is absolute tragic and believed to be
from the Big Rivers region. I mean, that's a region
that is just going to They're going to be heartbroken
by what's going on.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Absolutely, and you know, just as well as all your listeners,
the territory is a small place and we care about
each other, and I think it is it's an absolute tragedy,
and it's really it's as hard any road death or
any death in their community is significant and hurts, but
when you get six in one crash, it's just it's awful.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And so by Thursday you are thinking that there may
be some further answers when it comes to the DNA
and some of the work that the victim identification team
is going through. I mean it sounds like it is
going to be a huge body of work for those offices.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yes, absolutely, Katie, and you know they're very well trained
in this that we invest nationally more than two victory
are really well regarded in this field. We've got some
really good people who know the business, and I'll work
hand in glove with the detectives as well the Major
Crash Investigation Unit, who are collecting evidence, you know, backtracking
(06:14):
looking at CCTV. And that's why it's really important that
if any members of the public have seen the vehicle
or have any dash cam footage, and some people have
already submitted dash cam footage to us, which is really helpful,
but it helps us put together the picture, and obviously
the imagery helps us identify them and basically corroborate what
(06:35):
the scientists will look at as well. So the sooner
we can get identification, the sooner we can be closed
to the family, and so the sooner we can put
support service in place for everyone who's impacted.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Commission. I don't want to put words in your mouth,
but obviously, looking at what you've seed just a moment ago,
that it does look as though it was a mum
and dad in a vehicle with their kids. So potentially
we could have a lot of four kids here as possible.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I can't I can't give that answer. I don't know.
I've got to let the forensic scientists work through the
identification process to government. But what I can confirm is
we've got six six people that have passed away tragically,
and a number of them are children.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Can I ask in terms of the frontline services that
were required at the scene, can you talk me through
just how extensive the work was at the scene on Friday.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So you've got the report of quite a significant event
occurring twelve kilometers to the south of Pine Creek. So
we mobilize a few police stations, Catherine deployed. The remote
stations up the highway get deployed because we've got to
look at traffic management. The highway was closed for a
period of time because there was obviously safety concern because
(07:55):
there was a fire burning. The fire service go, we've
got two occupants in the road train were injured and
in shock. So Saint John's deploy and then all the
planning goes through from our joint Emergency Communications Center to
get all additional resources there, emergency services, traffic controllers, Department
of Construction planning, you know, look at alternate routes for
(08:18):
the highway. It's an arterial road that we you know,
we need to open up to make sure people can
still move about and supply lines day open, so all
that planning that goes into place, and that's over seventy
two hours. So we managed to open the highway partially
across the weekend. Now it's you know, that's been rehabilitated now,
so the highway's back up and running. But that's an
(08:40):
operation that runs twenty four to seven. So you know,
you've got a number of people that are working tirelessly
day and night collecting evidence and obviously then the broader
range of trying to engage with community and backtrack to
work out who these people are so it can make
as a priority to find out who their family are
so we can make the communication. And I dare say
(09:03):
that at some point in time there's going to be
someone in community who realizes they haven't heard from their
family for a number of days now, and they'll start
asking questions and that'll you know, that's we need to
deploy some resources to make sure they're supported.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, it's an absolute tragedy and it is so incredibly
sad then to think you know of any loss of life,
but when you're thinking about a family in that vehicle,
it's pretty heartbreaking. Stuff is this one of the worst
disasters that we've seen in the Northern Territory on our
roads for some time.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yes, it is. I think the last time we've had
multiple deaths. We had six deaths in two thousand and
seven outside of our Springs. I think it was on
It was either on Larapinta Drive or one of the
drives out there, and it was actually a result of
a persud police pursuot. We believe the occupants the vehicle
(10:01):
thought they were being pursued by police. The police were
in the area and the car rolled and six of
the occupants died. That was a very sad event and
impacted communities significantly as well.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, now how can I ask do we have any
idea how the two people, the two drivers that were
inside the truck, how they are.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I think they went to Catherine Hospital and were treated.
You so, physically not too bad. Obviously they probably saw
I don't know the extent, but you know, psychologically would
be devastating. I mean, this is going to be with
them for the rest of their life. Like this is
(10:41):
knowing you know, people even driving past who see a
crash and then knowing later what the result was. That
that's going to be impacting even though they don't know
who the people are. But our thoughts with the driver
and his colleague and all the people you know, and
if they need support, you know, you've got lifeline or
people you can talk to, you know if we if
(11:01):
he witness or traumatic event, please ask for help. Don't
keep a bottle up inside you. And that's the work
we're doing with our first responders to make sure we
look after them too, consistently, incredibly difficult.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I know that first responders often go out to terrible tragedies,
but I how are they going in light of the
fact that we now know that there are that there
were a number of kids in that car, So.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I haven't spoken to a number of them, met will
be engaging with them across like most most people. I
spoke to the major crash detective this morning. He's good.
He obviously impacts him personally because he deals with death daily, sadly,
and serious injury with crashes. We've had a number of
(11:49):
people who have been seriously injured that end up in
NICU that don't die. But you know the significant trauma
associated with responding to that too. But you know, the
fact is Gaddie the people who respond, community members. They've
got families, they've got kids, and that impacts upon them.
So that's the effort. We need to make sure that
(12:10):
they get the services and help to make sure they're
healthy and okay. But you know, like I said, I
commend them. They do the job, they're professional, they get
into it. They you know, they come to work to
make a difference and provide a service and they've done
that incredibly. But you know, when things start to slow
down and they think about it, that's when we need
to care for them.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy, thank you very much for your
time this morning. But I do want to say massive
thank you to those first responders. I cannot imagine what
it's like going out to a tragic, tragic incident like this,
and as you've said, you know, the trauma of that
sometimes isn't felt immediately. It's something that comes down the track.
So I just want to thank them for the work
(12:52):
that they do. I know that, you know, there is
a lot that goes on in the community so often
that we call on the police, the fieries, ourgency services
and call on them for you know, a lot of
difficult things. But but yeah, what's going on on Friday.
I really feel for them, and I hope that everybody
is going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, and me too, Katie, And I think it's really important.
Just please everyone, just take care on the roads, whether
you're a driver or you're traveling long distance or a pedestrian,
just look after each other and look after yourself. Please.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, thank you so much for your time this morning, Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Thanks Katie, thank you.
Joining me on the line right now is the Northern
Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy. Good morning to your commissioner.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, Katie, Good morning, Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Six lives lost, one of those believed to be a child.
What do we know so far about this terrible crash?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Look, firstly, you know, the thoughts are with the community
and everyone involved, first responders and people who have actually
driven past it, because it's very distressing, very traumatic, and
very upsetting for the Northern Terrechiary community. They pointed out
just before five o'clock on Friday, about twelve kilometers south
of Pine Creek, a road train has collided with a
(00:42):
gray Paguero and as we know now contained six people.
We understand there's a number of children in that vehicle,
which is very upsetting, and we obviously confirmed there was
one infant, but there's looks like there's a number of
children in that vehicle after their collision, that both the
(01:03):
vehicles have caught on fire. I know, the heroism of
the truck driver and his colleague who made an effort
to try and save life but just couldn't in the circumstances,
just cause it was you know, on the fire and
very dangerous and you know they went to Catherine Hospital
and were treated, but you know, the psychological trauma for
(01:25):
them would be just incredible to our thoughts with them
across the weekend we've been down at the site. You know,
our thoughts and you know, but the professionalism are first
responders and services, the police, Saint John's, the fire service,
emergency services, all those involved have been absolutely incredible. You know.
(01:47):
We've had the Disaster Victim Identification team down there for
a number of days because of the the actual scene
and the circumstances around the crash, and we've had to
collect obviously evidentiary material to look at identifications and that's
where the science will come into it now with forensic services,
and we're hoping that we may have some answers by
(02:10):
Thursday through our DNA process so it can actually confirm
with family and who's involved. We have some idea of
the vehicle left Catherine around about two thirty the Pagero
and traveled north where it's had the crash. We're asking
for people who may have seen the vehicle. It's a
(02:31):
great Pagero and it's Northern Churchary registered c D five
six ww IF anyone's seen it or has any dashcam
footage trucks going past, or cars or may have seen
at the side of the road, if they can bring
up a one three one triple four and quite a
reference number for me, it's one oh four seven zero
(02:51):
seven two four. That's one o four seven zero seven
two four. That's so two. Lots lots of investigative arms
in this. We've got obviously the odification and the closure
for family and that respectful pathway, and we've also got
the reasons about why this has happened. Yeah, you know,
we're up to about nineteen and the road our depths
on the Northern Churchiy Roads compared to over forty the
(03:13):
same time last year. But nineteen deaths is way too
many deaths on the Northern Churchy roads. And we've got
the school holidays at the moment, and we've got people
moving about returning back to jurisdictions because the wet season's approaching,
so we've got a few vehicles on the road. I
just urge everyone please drive carefully, drive within your limitations,
make sure you don't get tied and plan your trip,
(03:34):
don't drink and drive, don't be distracted so you know
we're on this crash. We've got to make sure, you know,
all avenues are explored and ruled out, whether it's distraction, fatigue, alcohol,
We just don't know the answers yet, but we need
to work out why.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, inquiring, it seems like there are a lot of
questions that still remain unanswered. Police Commissioner, can I just
ask you said that it's now believed it it's a
number of children that were in that car, do you
know how many?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I can't be definity if we just know that there's
a number of young people where you can assume that
some mum and dad and children at this point, and
it looks like they're probably from the Big Rivers area
of the Northern Territory. So incredibly sad and it's going
to be very impacting upon and it is now on
the Northern Territory community. But once, you know, we say,
(04:26):
once that identification is revealed and it's you know, it
comes home a lot harder for the territory. So that's
where we just need to look after each other, you know,
and you know the first responders as well. You know
that's I've set it before. This is very traumatic and
distressing and upsetting response, and it'll take its toll, whether
(04:46):
it's immediate or you know, sometime in the future. But
you know, the hard work and the incredible professionalism of
our people that roll out to such tragedy is commendable.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Police Commissioner. That is absolute tragic and believed to be
from the Big Rivers region. I mean, that's a region
that is just going to They're going to be heartbroken
by what's going on.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Absolutely, and you know, just as well as all your listeners,
the territory is a small place and we care about
each other, and I think it is it's an absolute tragedy,
and it's really it's as hard any road death or
any death in their community is significant and hurts, but
when you get six in one crash, it's just it's awful.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And so by Thursday you are thinking that there may
be some further answers when it comes to the DNA
and some of the work that the victim identification team
is going through. I mean it sounds like it is
going to be a huge body of work for those offices.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yes, absolutely, Katie, and you know they're very well trained
in this that we invest nationally more than two victory
are really well regarded in this field. We've got some
really good people who know the business, and I'll work
hand in glove with the detectives as well the Major
Crash Investigation Unit, who are collecting evidence, you know, backtracking
(06:14):
looking at CCTV. And that's why it's really important that
if any members of the public have seen the vehicle
or have any dash cam footage, and some people have
already submitted dash cam footage to us, which is really helpful,
but it helps us put together the picture, and obviously
the imagery helps us identify them and basically corroborate what
(06:35):
the scientists will look at as well. So the sooner
we can get identification, the sooner we can be closed
to the family, and so the sooner we can put
support service in place for everyone who's impacted.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Commission. I don't want to put words in your mouth,
but obviously, looking at what you've seed just a moment ago,
that it does look as though it was a mum
and dad in a vehicle with their kids. So potentially
we could have a lot of four kids here as possible.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I can't I can't give that answer. I don't know.
I've got to let the forensic scientists work through the
identification process to government. But what I can confirm is
we've got six six people that have passed away tragically,
and a number of them are children.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Can I ask in terms of the frontline services that
were required at the scene, can you talk me through
just how extensive the work was at the scene on Friday.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So you've got the report of quite a significant event
occurring twelve kilometers to the south of Pine Creek. So
we mobilize a few police stations, Catherine deployed. The remote
stations up the highway get deployed because we've got to
look at traffic management. The highway was closed for a
period of time because there was obviously safety concern because
(07:55):
there was a fire burning. The fire service go, we've
got two occupants in the road train were injured and
in shock. So Saint John's deploy and then all the
planning goes through from our joint Emergency Communications Center to
get all additional resources there, emergency services, traffic controllers, Department
of Construction planning, you know, look at alternate routes for
(08:18):
the highway. It's an arterial road that we you know,
we need to open up to make sure people can
still move about and supply lines day open, so all
that planning that goes into place, and that's over seventy
two hours. So we managed to open the highway partially
across the weekend. Now it's you know, that's been rehabilitated now,
so the highway's back up and running. But that's an
(08:40):
operation that runs twenty four to seven. So you know,
you've got a number of people that are working tirelessly
day and night collecting evidence and obviously then the broader
range of trying to engage with community and backtrack to
work out who these people are so it can make
as a priority to find out who their family are
so we can make the communication. And I dare say
(09:03):
that at some point in time there's going to be
someone in community who realizes they haven't heard from their
family for a number of days now, and they'll start
asking questions and that'll you know, that's we need to
deploy some resources to make sure they're supported.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, it's an absolute tragedy and it is so incredibly
sad then to think you know of any loss of life,
but when you're thinking about a family in that vehicle,
it's pretty heartbreaking. Stuff is this one of the worst
disasters that we've seen in the Northern Territory on our
roads for some time.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yes, it is. I think the last time we've had
multiple deaths. We had six deaths in two thousand and
seven outside of our Springs. I think it was on
It was either on Larapinta Drive or one of the
drives out there, and it was actually a result of
a persud police pursuot. We believe the occupants the vehicle
(10:01):
thought they were being pursued by police. The police were
in the area and the car rolled and six of
the occupants died. That was a very sad event and
impacted communities significantly as well.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, now how can I ask do we have any
idea how the two people, the two drivers that were
inside the truck, how they are.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I think they went to Catherine Hospital and were treated.
You so, physically not too bad. Obviously they probably saw
I don't know the extent, but you know, psychologically would
be devastating. I mean, this is going to be with
them for the rest of their life. Like this is
(10:41):
knowing you know, people even driving past who see a
crash and then knowing later what the result was. That
that's going to be impacting even though they don't know
who the people are. But our thoughts with the driver
and his colleague and all the people you know, and
if they need support, you know, you've got lifeline or
people you can talk to, you know if we if
(11:01):
he witness or traumatic event, please ask for help. Don't
keep a bottle up inside you. And that's the work
we're doing with our first responders to make sure we
look after them too, consistently, incredibly difficult.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I know that first responders often go out to terrible tragedies,
but I how are they going in light of the
fact that we now know that there are that there
were a number of kids in that car, So.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I haven't spoken to a number of them, met will
be engaging with them across like most most people. I
spoke to the major crash detective this morning. He's good.
He obviously impacts him personally because he deals with death daily, sadly,
and serious injury with crashes. We've had a number of
(11:49):
people who have been seriously injured that end up in
NICU that don't die. But you know the significant trauma
associated with responding to that too. But you know, the
fact is Gaddie the people who respond, community members. They've
got families, they've got kids, and that impacts upon them.
So that's the effort. We need to make sure that
(12:10):
they get the services and help to make sure they're
healthy and okay. But you know, like I said, I
commend them. They do the job, they're professional, they get
into it. They you know, they come to work to
make a difference and provide a service and they've done
that incredibly. But you know, when things start to slow
down and they think about it, that's when we need
to care for them.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy, thank you very much for your
time this morning. But I do want to say massive
thank you to those first responders. I cannot imagine what
it's like going out to a tragic, tragic incident like this,
and as you've said, you know, the trauma of that
sometimes isn't felt immediately. It's something that comes down the track.
So I just want to thank them for the work
(12:52):
that they do. I know that, you know, there is
a lot that goes on in the community so often
that we call on the police, the fieries, ourgency services
and call on them for you know, a lot of
difficult things. But but yeah, what's going on on Friday.
I really feel for them, and I hope that everybody
is going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, and me too, Katie, And I think it's really important.
Just please everyone, just take care on the roads, whether
you're a driver or you're traveling long distance or a pedestrian,
just look after each other and look after yourself. Please.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, thank you so much for your time this morning, Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Thanks Katie, thank you.
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