FED: National toll hits 26

AAP General News (Australia)
12-24-1998
FED: National toll hits 26

SYDNEY, Dec 24 AAP - The national holiday road toll has climbed to 26 with a tragic outback
fatality in Western Australia late on Tuesday and six deaths yesterday, including four on
Victorian roads.

A teenager walked 33 km through the WA desert in a failed attempt to save the life of his
51-year-old female passenger after rolling his ute on waterlogged roads near Halls Creek.

The 19-year-old walked overnight to a station but the woman, who was thrown clear of the
ute in the crash, died at the site before medical help could arrive.

And the Christmas-New Year road toll jumped dramatically overnight, with six people killed
on Australia's roads yesterday.

In Victoria, a 29-year-old man died in a car which hit a tree at Mt Evelyn, a 55-year-old
woman and her 14-year-old daughter were killed in a hit-and-run accident in South Oakleigh,
and a two-year-old boy died in a crash at Cranbourne.

Victoria's toll stands at five, although NSW still has the highest number of deaths with
six.

Queensland and WA each have had four road deaths while SA and Tasmania have had three
fatalities each.

There's been one death in the ACT, and only the Northern Territory remains fatality-free.





(EDS: AAP's national road toll figures are for the period 0001 AEDT December 18 to midnight
January 3 AEDT. Some states and territories have different periods.)

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KEYWORD: TOLL NATIONAL (CARRIED EARLIER)

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