A 16-year-old girl on a school holiday trip has been killed alongside a family friend in a devastating all-terrain vehicle crash in Tasmania.
A Fatal Collision on the Highway
Adasyn Wood Savin, from Newcastle in New South Wales, was enjoying a break in the town of Rosebery in Tasmania's west. The tragedy occurred at approximately 4:30 pm on Saturday when she was riding as a passenger on the back of a red Honda quad bike.
The vehicle, driven by a 38-year-old family friend, was travelling along the Murchison Highway when it collided with a white Mitsubishi Triton utility truck. Despite the efforts of interstate tourists who stopped to render aid, both the teenager and the driver died at the scene.
The 40-year-old man driving the ute was not injured. He was taken to a police station for mandatory drug and alcohol testing, which is standard procedure following a fatal incident.
A Family's Double Tragedy
In the wake of the crash, a public appeal has been launched to help Adasyn's mother travel to Tasmania to bring her daughter's body back home to Newcastle. The fundraiser highlights a heartbreaking double loss for the parents, who had previously lost Adasyn's younger brother, Cooper.
The day after the accident, Adasyn's father shared a poignant tribute on social media, writing: 'To my beautiful daughter you were everything to me my world will never be the same. I can't live without you, they took you too early, I love you so much - life's not fair.'
The fundraising organiser stated that Adasyn had been 'having fun, spending time with friends, and making memories the way any 16-year-old should'. They expressed gratitude to those who tried to help at the scene and added that Adasyn had now been 'reunited with her brother Cooper Savin'.
Safety Concerns and Community Grief
Friends and loved ones have remembered Adasyn as a 'sweet' and 'beautiful' girl on social media, with one writing 'Life is so unfair. Addy will be sadly missed by us all.'
These deaths are the first recorded on Tasmanian roads in 2024. The incident has again cast a spotlight on the safety of quad bikes and all-terrain vehicles. Since 2020, such vehicles have been involved in more than 20 fatalities in the island state.
A coroner's report from 2016 found that seven quad bike deaths occurring between 2012 and 2015 were preventable, underscoring ongoing concerns about their use.
