A Melbourne woman is under police guard in hospital after the car she was driving crashed into a lake, killing three children and leaving a fourth seriously injured.
The car plunged into Lake Gladman, a small waterway surrounded by parkland in a modern housing development in the city’s outer west, yesterday afternoon.
It sparked a frantic rescue effort, as passers-by and police tried to free the woman driver and her child passengers, all aged under six.
Despite lengthy attempts to resuscitate them, one child died at the lake, a second died in an ambulance and the third died in hospital.
The surviving child is in the Royal Children’s Hospital in a serious condition.
The woman is in a stable condition and under police guard in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
The almost-submerged car remained in the lake overnight and it is expected to be towed out today, once police have collected evidence that could help explain how the incident unfolded.
