A car has crashed through the fence of a Melbourne primary school, killing one child while seriously injuring four others. Police said a child was also a passenger in the car but was not injured. The 40-year-old driver of the car has been arrested and interviewed by police. The driver has been released pending further enquiries.
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00:00A school community in Melbourne's east is coming to terms with the scene of unimaginable
00:07horror after a car crashed into a school ground yesterday, killing an 11-year-old boy.
00:13Stephanie Ferrier is at Auburn South Primary School for us now.
00:16Steph, awful, awful event.
00:19What have police had to say?
00:21Good morning, Bridget.
00:22Yes, police say that they have now released the 40-year-old woman driver from Hawthorne
00:29East pending further inquiries and they say that they believe that she had just picked
00:35up her child from Auburn South Primary behind me and she was attempting to do a U-turn when
00:42somehow her car veered off the road and crashed through this steel fence behind me and into
00:49the school grounds.
00:50Now, in there, there were five children who were sitting at a table in the school grounds.
00:55Sadly, this 11-year-old boy was critically hurt and he died on the way to hospital.
01:01There were four other kids who also suffered serious injuries.
01:05Now, two of those have been listed as serious but stable and the other two are in a stable
01:13condition.
01:14They were two 11-year-old girls and a boy and a girl aged just 10 years old.
01:21Police say that this is a very tough situation for everybody involved, even the first responders,
01:27obviously involving children and having to take witness statements here and look after
01:32those children who have been very badly hurt.
01:35Now, they say that it's still simply too early to say exactly how this happened.
01:41Earlier on, we heard from the education department a spokesperson who said that it might have
01:44been a medical episode.
01:46Police say that it's still too early to work that out.
01:49There were P-plates on this car, however, it's still too early to determine the exact
01:54status of the driver as well.
01:57And they say that this could take weeks to actually work out and form this investigation.
02:02And, Steph, do we know whether the school will open this week?
02:08What are the plans for students who must be really traumatised at this time?
02:13Yes, Bridget, we've heard from the education minister, Ben Carroll, who says that the education
02:19department is standing by and ready to offer the school whatever supports it needs.
02:24Obviously, you can imagine that there would need to be counselling involved.
02:28We heard from people who said that parents were picking up their kids after this happened
02:33yesterday afternoon, hugging and consoling their kids.
02:36It would have been a very traumatic situation for the entire school community.
02:42And Jacinta Allen, the Premier, has put out a post on social media saying basically that
02:47what should have been an unremarkable sunny afternoon has had this really dark shadow
02:52that's been cast over the city and the state.
02:56And she says that everybody is going to hug their close loved ones that little bit harder.
03:02And we've also heard from the opposition leader as well.
03:05He says that this has been absolutely heartbreaking for this very tight-knit community.
03:10And he's also expressed his sincere condolences to a local family that is now dealing with
03:16the loss of a loved one.
03:18Of course, he's the local member.
03:19So we're going to be hearing from witnesses to this as well as from the Premier and the
03:24opposition leader here a little later on News Breakfast.
03:27But of course, Bridget, our hearts go out to that family who is waking up this morning
03:32without their little boy.