Three Bangladeshis killed in car crash in Canberra

Three people killed in a two-vehicle crash on Coppins Crossing Road in Canberra of Australia have been identified as Bangladeshi tourists, reports ABC News.

A red Toyota hatchback and white Toyota van collided on the road just south of Hazel Hawke Avenue in Canberra’s west about 2:45pm on Sunday.

A 61-year-old man, 54-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man from Bangladesh were pronounced dead at the scene.

Both drivers are in hospital, with the driver of the car in a critical condition. The “jaws of life” had to be used to remove all four adults from the car.

Yesterday’s deaths take the ACT’s road toll to 17 for the year and come just one week after two teenage girls were killed on the Monaro Highway in Hume.

A 38-year-old woman was also killed in a head-on crash on the Barton Highway between Yass and Murrumbateman last week, and just two weeks ago a 17-year-old driver died in a two-vehicle accident on the Kings Highway near Bungendore.

“It’s just common sense, slow down. One or two minutes to get there later won’t hurt anybody. You need to come home alive to your families.”

Police are asking any witnesses or anyone who has dashcam footage of the accident to contact Crime Stoppers.

Bill Gemmell from the Weston Creek Community Council said residents had been raising safety concerns about Coppins Crossing for more than a decade.

“The point which the collision occurred at, the signage is ambiguous, it’s pretty much a construction track being used almost as an arterial road,” he said.

“It’s the main link road really between Woden, Weston Creek, Molonglo, through to the western parts of Belconnen, it’s got some substantial traffic.

“It goes from quite a wide two-lane road [John Gorton Drive] down to a narrow, single-lane each way road [Coppins Crossing Road] very quickly and it’s on the downhill.”