Three people including a five-year-old boy have been airlifted to hospital following a serious head-on collision at Narrawallee, north of Mollymook, Thursday afternoon.
The coastal village is home to Lisa Elmas, the first to arrive on scene of a horrific Boxing Day crash south of Sussex Inlet that claimed four lives, including three of the four members of Sydney’s Falkholt family.
Incredibly, Ms Elmas also chanced upon this afternoon’s crash, which has caused critical injuries to a 37-year-old woman, and left a five-year-old boy seriously hurt.
Emergency services were called to the crash on Matron Porter Drive about 3.50pm.
A 36-year-old male driver was trapped by his left leg in a silver sports utility vehicle, suffering a fractured left femur, pelvis, right wrist and fibula and suspected spinal injuries.
He was taken by road ambulance to Shoalhaven Hospital, then airlifted to St George Hospital.
His front-seat passenger, a woman believed aged 37, was airlifted in a critical condition with abdominal injuries, a fractured right tibia and fibula and suspected spinal injuries to a Sydney hospital.
Meanwhile, a five-year-old boy was taken to Milton Ulladulla Hospital by road with facial injuries, where his condition deteriorated. He has since been airlifted to Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.
A witness on the scene said “up to nine people” were working to free the man.
Emergency crews used hydraulic cutters to remove the man from the car. Pieces of the car, including the boot, were removed.
The cars collided in a 60km/h roadwork zone on a bend.
A man travelling in a separate vehicle was transported to Milton Hospital for assessment, suffering minor injuries, a NSW Ambulance spokesman said.
The road remained closed in both directions on Thursday evening while crash investigators examined the scene.
Judy Brown was on the scene shortly after the crash.
"I was leaving to go somewhere five minutes before so I was lucky,” she said. It's a bit of a sweeping bend there. At the moment it's only 60 km/h but it's normally 80 km/h which is probably a bit too fast.
“They're doing the footpath extending up the hill at the moment so there are roadworks."
"You just hope that they're all going to be okay."
The crash comes the day after Vivian Falkholt, her husband Lars and their 21-year-old daughter Annabelle were farewelled at a funeral service – casualties of a horror Boxing Day crash on the Prinnces Highway.
Craig Whittall from Ulladulla swerved onto the the wrong side of the road, killing the family and himself.
Annabelle’s sister, Home and Away actress Jessica Falkholt, remains fighting for life.
Ms Elmas was first on the scene of that crash.
She later described how she pulled the sisters from the wreckage and attempted to retrieve their mother’s body before the car went up in flames.
Ms Elmas told the Mercury she was approaching the Narrawallee crash site this afternoon when she realised what she was seeing, and – knowing there were others already assisting the injured - turned her car around.
“It was too much for me. I turned around after the police overtook me,” she said.
“It’s too soon.
“I'm up and down. It's a day to day process. It's going to take some time. I just want to try and get back to normality for my children.”
In the aftermath of the Boxing Day tragedy, Ms Elmas has called for first aid kids and fire extinguishers to be made mandatory in all vehicles.
She has created a petition – which can be signed at change.org – in support of the cause.
