Counselling and mental health services are preparing to support a broken community after a horror crash southwest of Sydney claimed the lives of five teens overnight.
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Two 14-year-old girls, a 15-year-old girl, a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy died when a Nissan Navara ute rolled and crashed into a tree on East Parade at Buxton, near Bargo, about 8pm on Tuesday.
Counselling and mental health services will be offered at the local Buxton Community Hall on Wednesday.
Residents who need support are urged to attend the hall or call Community Links Wellbeing on 4683 2776.
The support has been coordinated by Wollondilly Shire Council and South West Sydney Local Health District.
"We understand that many will find it difficult to process and grieve this tragic event," Wollondilly Shire Council posted to Facebook
"Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved, the Picton High School and Buxton communities and the emergency responders who dealt with this heartbreaking scene."
Psychologist Lisa Boland, who operates a practice in the neighbouring town of Thirlmere, said her team has reached out to the local schools to offer pro bono support to families and staff affected by the tragedy in the form of crisis counselling.
"Our condolences go out to all those in the community touched by this tragedy and we hope to assist in offering any support we can," she said.
Sole survivor of horror crash yet to speak to police
Speed and road conditions will be considered by police during their investigation into a horror crash in southwest Sydney that left five teenagers dead overnight.
"The scene was extremely confronting for the people who rang triple-0, the first responders and the next of kin who found themselves drawn to the scene," NSW Police Acting Inspector Jason Hogan said.
"Our preliminary investigations would indicate that [vehicle] speed is a possible factor."
Acting Insp Hogan said all six people were in the vehicle's cabin at the time of the crash and the car had not been stolen.
An 18-year-old male P-plate driver, who was the only one to survive the crash, remains in Liverpool Hospital in a stable condition with non-life threatening injuries. He is yet to speak to police.
The driver tested negative to a roadside RBT test, and officers are waiting the results of mandatory blood and alcohol testing.
ACM understands that at least three of the teens who died were Year 9 students at Picton High School.
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Police believe the other two teens who died and the driver were all students or ex-students of the same school.
"Our family liason officers have spoken to the families, and under the circumstances they wouldn't be doing very well," Acting Insp Hogan said.
Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry said firefighters performed CPR on some of the casualties prior to the arrival of paramedics.
Despite the experience of FRNSW and volunteer firefighters who attended the scene, he said it was a traumatic crash to attend.
"It became evident pretty early on that there wasn't anything that could be done for some of the people involved," he said.
Support services will be offered to first responders who attended the scene.
"Can you ever prepare for going into a mass casualty situation, not completely," supt Dewberry said. "These memories will likely hold for a fair while."
It became evident pretty early on that there wasn't anything that could be done for some of the people involved.
- Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry
Two teams of counsellors are on site at Picton High School to support students and staff.
"We will also be working with local primary schools and providing extra wellbeing support where needed," a NSW Department of Education spokeswoman said.
"Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and friends of the young people who lost their lives."
Police are yet to release the names of those who died.