<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>332010</docID> <postdate>2024-10-29 19:24:13</postdate> <headline>‘Tragic accident’: boy dies as car crashes into school</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-332011" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20220118001614347841-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="572" /></p> <caption>Emergency services were called to the school after a car crashed through a fence. (Luis Ascui/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Kaitlyn Offer</strong> and <strong>William Ton</strong> in Melbourne</span></p> <p><strong>A boy is dead after a woman crashed through a primary school fence and into a group of students, in what police described as a "tragic accident".</strong></p> <p>The 40-year-old driver had just collected her child at Auburn South Primary School, east of Melbourne, when she performed a U-turn and crashed through the fence into a table where the five children were seated, police say.</p> <p>An 11-year-old boy suffered critical injuries in the collision, just after 2.30pm on Tuesday, and later died.</p> <p>Two 11-year-old girls, a 10-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were seriously injured and taken to hospital.</p> <p>The driver has been arrested and will be interviewed by police, Inspector Craig McEvoy said.</p> <p>"It appears it is a tragic accident," Insp McEvoy told reporters at the scene.</p> <p>The woman and her child were not injured.</p> <p>Public Order Response crews remain at the scene, with the leafy street closed off as officers come and go from the area of impact.</p> <p>As of 6pm, more than a dozen police officers remained at the scene working on the white vehicle which was lodged past the school's grey steel fence in front of a picnic table.</p> <p>Police will take statements from the school principal, teachers, parents and other witnesses.</p> <p>The car had a green P-plate, but Insp McEvoy said he was not certain of the woman's licence status.</p> <p>Ambulance Victoria sent multiple advanced life support and mobile intensive care vehicles to the scene.</p> <p>Three of the children were taken to the Royal Children's Hospital and two were taken to Monash Medical Centre.</p> <p>Parent Lucy told radio station 3AW that her son was friends with some of the grade five students and possibly a prep student hit by the car during recess.</p> <p>"We got a text message from the school just saying that Burgess Street closed and then we ... actually drove past, and I just saw one police car," she said.</p> <p>"Then we just started hearing more and more police cars go down so I just raced down there."</p> <p>Lucy said she arrived at the scene to find parents hugging their children and each other.</p> <p>"It's just every person's worst nightmare and I just hope the children are okay," she said.</p> <p>Resident Don Owen told reporters the road could be busy with traffic, particularly at the start and finish of school, and cars sometimes sped by.</p> <p>Premier Jacinta Allan posted her condolences on social media.</p> <p>Education Minister Ben Carroll is monitoring the situation, while Opposition Leader and local MP John Pesutto described the incident as a "painful shock".</p> <p>The Department of Education said in a statement it was working closely with staff, students and parents of the school to support them.</p> </body>