Father, 21, and seven-year-old boy killed in horror smash
A seven-year-old boy was one of two people killed in a horror car crash in Darwin overnight.
A 21-year-old father, Wade Williams, was travelling in the same car and was also killed.
A woman, 24, who was driving the car Mr Williams was a passenger in and a man, 42, who was driving the other car were taken to Royal Darwin Hospital with serious injuries.
One car is believed to have been speeding and ran a red light when it crashed into and T-boned the other in Berrimah just before midnight on Wednesday.
Traffic and street lights were knocked over and the area was closed to traffic for much of Thursday.
A police officer on his way home from work was the first on the scene when he drove past the accident by chance.
He helped until St John's Ambulance paramedics arrived, NT Police commander Matt Hollamby said.
"The death of anyone is a tragedy but the death of children is really, really hard to take," he told reporters.
"Fatal crashes can be measured in millimetres and milliseconds and all we ask is that people take care on the roads, obey the laws, don't take risks and minimise the possibility of a crash."
Neither driver had been spoken to yet, he said, because they were being treated in hospital.
Major Crash detectives are investigating, and believe speed and running a red light were factors based on camera footage and may lay charges.
There have now been 13 deaths on the Northern Territory's roads this year, compared to 21 at the same time last year.
Mr William’s friend and former housemate Ryan Allwood told Yahoo News Australia the young father was a “very strong-hearted bloke”.
“He always made sure that everyone else felt comfortable. We did everything together, even worked together everyday renovating a house, we would always stop off at the pub in Beaconsfield after work to have a couple beers before we headed home,” Mr Allwood said.
“He was a bright young man who had a lot of talent in pretty much everything. He’s had such a big impact on my life and it’s going to be hard without him, he will be deeply and sadly missed.”
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