Pictured: Woman, 29, killed in horrific Sydney tunnel crash
The victim of a deadly crash in a Sydney tunnel was a Colombian woman who had only recently returned to Australia.
Leidy Rincon, 29, was among a group of friends who were heading to work early Thursday morning when the car they were travelling in was involved in a head-on collision.
Ms Rincon was killed while three others in the car were taken to hospital with serious injuries following the accident which took place in the tunnel on General Holmes Drive before 5.40am.
The driver of the other car, which was reportedly heading the wrong way, was also rushed to hospital.
Christian Lozada, whose mother and girlfriend were in the vehicle with Ms Rincon, could be seen running through the tunnel after the crash in a tragic moment caught on dashcam.
Speaking to Nine News Thursday, he said he was shocked and still digesting the news.
“She was a lovely girl, very kind,” he said of Ms Rincon. “She adored Australia.”
His mother, 62, and his girlfriend reportedly escaped with fractures to their spines while another passenger in the car, also a young woman, suffered a broken arm.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to ostensibly help Ms Rincon’s family bring her back to Colombia.
“She was a lovely and kind person. God be with her now! You are deeply missed beloved Leidy,” one person commented on the page.
The driver in the other car, a 34-year-old man, suffered a punctured lung and bone fractures.
“When he recovers we’ll go to talk to him and interview him appropriately,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said on Thursday.
NSW police are still investigating how the crash took place.
“It was very unfortunate, and any fatality is a tragedy,” Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
“At this stage we’re looking into the reasons why the Ford went from the southbound lane into the northbound lane and collided with the other vehicle.
“We’re very interested in investigating how that happened.”
The dual tunnel has four lanes each way, but the number of lanes dedicated to each direction changes depending on the time of day.
During peak hour from 5am until 9am, city-bound traffic heading north gets an extra lane, marked by overhead lights.
Police also thanked an off-duty nurse who helped at the scene before emergency crews arrived.
Following the crash, the tunnel was closed as multiple fire crews and ambulances attended the scene, causing traffic to be backed up for 7kms before 8am.
“This is an absolutely horrendous crash. As you can imagine, when paramedics arrived on scene it was absolute bedlam,” NSW Ambulance Inspector Kath Rallings said.
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