A man and a woman have been arrested after a mother, her two young sons and a young male relative were killed when their car slammed into a telegraph pole on a country road.
Tania Murphy, 36, was driving near the intersection of Research Road and Toorak Road in Yanco, near Leeton in southern NSW, at around 11.15pm Tuesday with two of her three children, Nathaniel, 11, and Jeremiah, 10, and another male relative, 12.
Ms Murphy’s car struck a pole and then hurtled down an embankment into a water channel. It then landed upside-down.
Ms Murphy and the three boys, who were from Yanco, died at the scene before paramedics arrived.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal Ms Murphy has a nine-year-old daughter who was not in the vehicle at the time of the devastating crash.
NSW Police initially reported that the horror smash was believed to be a single vehicle crash.
However, at 3pm on Wednesday police announced that a man, 32, and a 50-year-old woman, were arrested at a unit in Griffith.
Tania Murphy, 36, was driving with her two sons and another male relative when her car smashed into a pole
Ms Murphy’s three children are pictured a few years ago. Nathaniel, now 11, is right, Jeremiah, now 10, is left. Their sister is in the middle
They were taken to Griffith Police Station where they remain in custody.
It is unclear what role, if any, the pair may have had in the crash.
Mark Sins, a close family friend, told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Murphy’s daughter, thankfully, was not in the car at the time.
He said Ms Murphy was in a relationship with his brother, who is not the children’s father.
‘The kids were beautiful and mum was amazing to me – always on my case saying “are you alright?”,’ he said.
‘She gave me a roof over my head.
‘[My brother] was happy and to see him now hurts.’
Nathaniel (left) and his brother Jeremiah (right) died on Tuesday night with their mother, Tania Murphy, and another male relative
Mr Sins said Jeremiah was his fishing buddy.
Meanwhile, Nathaniel was a ‘good kid … always nice to me’.
‘The family, mum and kids, were my family. They brought me in’.
The tragedy has rocked the Leeton region, with the mayor Tony Reneker telling ABC ‘it’s just a feeling of despair’.
‘It’s terrible news to wake up to, people are just shocked.’
Detectives are still investigating the the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Anyone with any information about the incident is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
Tania Murphy, 36, was driving near the intersection of Research Road and Toorak Road in Yanco, near Leeton in southern NSW, at around 11.15pm Tuesday (scene pictured)
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