4 dead, 3 injured in separate east Australian car crashes

SYDNEY, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Four people have died and three others have been hospitalized with serious injuries following two separate car crashes in the eastern Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) on Saturday night.

The NSW police force said on Sunday that the first accident occurred shortly before 7 p.m. local time when two vehicles collided in the small town of Avoca, 100 km southwest of Sydney.

Both occupants of one of the vehicles, who have not been identified, died at the scene.

The 64-year-old female driver of the second vehicle and her passenger, a 65-year-old man, were treated at the scene by ambulance paramedics and taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Hours later, emergency services in NSW's far north were at 10:30 p.m. called to reports of a single-vehicle crash near the border with neighboring Queensland and arrived to find a vehicle had left the road and struck a tree.

Two occupants, both believed to be aged in their 20s, were assisted by police before the arrival of ambulance crews, but died at the scene.

A third occupant, also aged in 20s, was taken to a Queensland hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Police established crime scenes at both crash sites and have commenced investigations.