A woman is dead and a child remains in hospital after a truck crashed into a kindergarten in a regional Victoria town.
Victoria police said the water tanker was believed to have crashed into the playground outside the kindergarten building in Riddells Creek, about 57km north-west of Melbourne, about 2.20pm on Monday.
A 43-year-old woman who had been working as a teacher’s aide at the kindergarten died at the scene from her injuries, Victoria police confirmed at a press conference on Monday evening.
A three-year-old boy was struck and received an injury to his arm and was in Royal Children’s hospital in a non-life-threatening condition.
The truck driver, who was working for McKenzie Water, was taken by ambulance to Royal Melbourne hospital in a stable condition.
“Our experienced 68-year-old driver is understood to have suffered a medical episode and remains in hospital,” McKenzie Water’s owner, Alan McKenzie, said in a statement on Monday evening.
McKenzie offered “heartfelt condolences to everyone involved” and said the company was assisting authorities with their investigations.
No charges have been laid over the incident and police said the circumstances of the crash were being investigated.
Speaking to journalists at the scene of the crash, the major collision investigation unit’s Insp Christian Von Tunk said it did not appear to be a deliberate act and the driver was assisting police with their inquiries.
“We’re not ruling anything out. We are taking blood samples,” he said.
“We’re going to look at drug and alcohol effect. We’re looking at medical conditions.”
Von Tunk said it was “tragically sad” that a woman had died and a young child was injured. The kindergarten’s play equipment was “extensively damaged” and the other staff and children had a “very considerable near miss”.
“I don’t know how only one person has died today. It’s unbelievable,” he said.
“That certainly will be explored … how we ended up with only one child injured and, thankfully, not overly badly.”
The Riddells Creek crash occurred less than a fortnight after 11-year-old Jack Davey was killed and four students injured when a car crashed through the fence of Auburn South primary school in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn East.
Von Tuck said that tragedy would be fresh in the minds of all the parents with children at the Riddells Creek kindergarten.
“I couldn’t imagine getting a phone call like that in the wake of what happened in Hawthorn East not long ago, and having to drive here to pick up your child not knowing what’s going on,” he said.
“I daresay there’ll be some kids getting squeezed very tightly tonight.”
The state MP for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas, described the crash as a “terrible incident”.
“Our thoughts are with the family of the victims and the broader Riddells Creek community,” she said.
“We thank our first responders who are on scene investigating and helping those injured.”
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, also offered her condolences.
“I know the close-knit community of Riddells Creek will be grieving tonight,” she wrote on X.
“We’re thinking of them, and everyone impacted by this terrible tragedy.”
With reporting by Australian Associated Press
