Accident in Australia

Five-year-old killed in “horror crash” with emu

An emu can reach almost two meters in height.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Paola)

A five-year-old boy has died and a teenager is fighting for her life after a car crash in Australia involving an emu. After a vehicle crashed into the emu, there was a pile-up - Australian media called it a "horror crash".

The accident occurred on Sunday near the town of Nangwarry in the state of South Australia when a vehicle collided with the large ratite on the Riddoch Highway, as reported by 9News, citing police.

You can see the scene of the accident in this article:

Four more people injured
What followed was a deadly chain reaction: a car driving behind had braked sharply to avoid a collision - whereupon a pick-up truck crashed into it with full force, it was said. The dead boy and the injured girl were reportedly in the vehicle, which had to brake. Four other people were treated in hospital with minor injuries. The police have launched an investigation into the exact circumstances of the accident.

The flightless emus only live in Australia and are the second largest ratites on earth. They can reach a body height of up to 1.90 meters. The animals often undertake long migrations in search of suitable feeding grounds and are also extremely fast: emus can run at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour.

Only rare tragic accidents involving emus
According to estimates, there are between 630,000 and 725,000 emus left today. Their population is mainly threatened by the loss of their natural habitat and by road accidents. However, it is usually the emus that die and not humans. Only rarely does a collision end as tragically for humans as it has now in South Australia.