Grief flows at vigil for pub crash victims

People congregated at Victoria Park at 6pm, 24 hours after the town was forever changed when a BMW X5 mounted the kerb and crashed into the Royal Daylesford Hotel beer garden.

Federal MP Catherine King, state MP Mary-Anne Thomas and emergency services personnel all attended along with shell-shocked community members trying to process the trauma of the event.

Hepburn Shire Council organised the public vigil and Mayor Brian Hood said there was “grief and sadness” in the crowd.

“There was no anger, people were terribly grateful for the job the emergency services do,” he said.

“They were supporting each other.”

Mr Hood said the event would likely have an “everlasting impact” on the tight-knit community.

“It was such a severe event, the scale and size of it, the impact of it, it will have an impact for quite some time,” he said.

A number of emergency services personnel spoke at the vigil and photos from the scene show the faces of first responders stricken with grief.

On Monday, the police pieced together a heart breaking picture of the families shattered by the nightmare crash.

In one group, 44-year Pratibha Sharma, her nine-year-old daughter Anvi and partner Jatin died after they were struck by the car.

In another group, a 38-year-old man and his 11-year-old son were both killed. The man’s wife, a 36-year-old woman, and a second son, aged six, were also injured.

The woman was flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the injured boy was flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital.

The family are from Tarneit in Melbourne’s outer west.

Several others suffered injuries.

“Hepburn Shire Council offers our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who were tragically killed and injured as a result of the awful event in Daylesford yesterday,” the Council posted to its Facebook page on Monday.

“We know there were many witnesses to the event and that people are likely to be incredibly affected by all that they saw.

“To those who assisted at the scene, we send our heartfelt thanks and gratitude.

“We encourage everyone to support one other during this very difficult time. Help is available via Lifeline on 13 11 14.”

The crash has been described as an “absolute tragedy” by Chief Commissioner Shane Patton.

“There were in essence two groups, two different family groups that were known to each other who were significantly involved and impacted by this,” he told reporters on Monday.

Hundreds of patrons had flocked to the pub to celebrate the unofficial long weekend with the Melbourne Cup public holiday coming up on Tuesday.

A woman from a business next to the Royal Daylesford told NCA NewsWire that she and her staff saw some of the bodies on the pavement.

“We’re all pretty shocked,” she said.

“It’s pretty bad, I’ve never seen anything so traumatic in my life.”

She said she had closed her business and would keep it closed on Monday.

Another woman who watched the nightmare unfold described it as “horrifying”.

“There were bodies everywhere, it was horrifying,” she said.

“I watched the whole crash. The car went up into the sky. I thought it was just dust. It’s only now I know it was bodies.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “the hearts of all Australians go out to everyone affected”.

“We are all shocked by what happened in Daylesford and so deeply saddened – for those whose lives were so cruelly cut short, and for those who can never be the same again,” he said.

Mr Patton commended members of the community who responded immediately to the tragedy.

“There were numerous people there, community members, visitors, many people in the proximity who selflessly came out and aided those who were dying, aided those who needed first aid, just disregarded their own safety,” he said.

Tyre marks were still visible in the grass outside the hotel where the car left the road.

The driver of the BMW, a 66-year-old Mount Macedon man, is receiving treatment in hospital and the police expect to interview him on Tuesday.

Originally published as More than 100 people gathered for a vigil to remember the Daylesford victims