Boy, 16, dies after car carrying five teenagers crashes into tree

A 16-year-old boy has died after a car full of teenagers crashed in NSW’s Hunter Region, with the vehicle’s 17-year-old learner driver allegedly returning a positive roadside breath test.

Four boys and one girl were found inside the wreckage of the white Ford Falcon on Lemon Tree Passage Road in the Port Stephens suburb of Salt Ash about 10.45pm on Friday. Police said the car “left the roadway and impacted with a tree” and that the occupants were all aged between 14 and 17.

The 16-year-old boy, who was one of the passengers, died on the way to hospital despite the best efforts of paramedics at the scene, Inspector Fatih Samsa told reporters outside Nelson Bay police station on Saturday.

“The families have received some of the worst news they can possibly receive,” he said.

Samsa said such scenes were always confronting, especially when five young people were involved. He did not say where the group had come from or been travelling to, nor how they all knew each other.

The driver, a 17-year-old boy, allegedly returned a positive reading to a roadside breath test and was taken to hospital for mandatory testing.

“I can confirm the driver was the holder of a learner driver’s licence,” Samsa said.

The three other passengers – a 14-year-old and two 17-year-olds – were taken to John Hunter Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Learner drivers in NSW are required to have a supervisor, who holds a full licence, sitting next to them while driving.