The four suspected victims of a fiery rental car crash in Victoria's high country were overseas workers from the Pacific Islands and were returning home from a gathering.
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A burned-out KIA people-mover was found on Sunday morning on a roadside in Piries, southeast of Mansfield.
It is believed the vehicle was travelling north when it lost control and hit an embankment before spinning out, ramming into a tree and bursting into flames.
All occupants died at the scene.
Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said it's believed four people were killed but confirming their identities is complicated by the catastrophic fire and their nationality.
"They're all people from overseas from the Pacific Islands who are here working in the vegetable industry in and around Mansfield," he told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Monday.
"It may be that we'd have to get DNA samples or dental records from overseas. We might even have to bring out some relatives to conduct DNA testing."
A partner of one of the victims, who is from Samoa, posted a picture of the pair together on Facebook.
"I'll see you on the other side babey I was patiently waiting for your return," she wrote.
Disaster victim identification specialists stayed at the scene until midnight on Sunday.
Police believe the men, all in their 20s, lived in a share house and had travelled to meet friends at a house at Macs Cove near Lake Eildon where they consumed alcohol before jumping back in the car to return home.
The cause of the crash is unknown but Mr Weir confirmed alcohol was a key line of inquiry, along with speed and the region being known as a high-traffic area for kangaroos and deer.
Another two people were killed on Sunday afternoon when their small hatchback crossed the Midland Highway and hit a ute and truck carrying sheep in Goornong near Bendigo.
Police believe the pair, who were killed instantly, had recently arrived from Bangladesh.
The cause of the head-on smash is under investigation.
Police are not treating the condition of the roads as a factor in either of the crashes.
A man is also fighting for life in hospital after a collision between two vans on the Mornington Peninsula Freeway in Chelsea Heights on Sunday afternoon.
Twenty people have been killed on Victoria's roads so far this month, compared to 21 for the entire month of November last year.
Five deaths came when a car ploughed into a Daylesford pub's beer garden on November 5.
More than 250 lives have been lost on Victoria's roads this year, surpassing its 2022 full-year road toll of 241.
Mr Weir said police are organising an emergency meeting with road safety partners to discuss a raft of possible changes.
Deputy Premier Ben Carroll urged Victorians to buckle up and slow down as the busy holiday period approaches.
"Every death is one death too many," he told reporters on Monday.
"All these deaths are preventable.
"And to think for these families ... they'll be one less person celebrating Christmas with them is just a tragedy."
Australian Associated Press
