Shocking footage has emerged of a group of teenagers hanging outside a swerving stolen ute moments before it hit a tree, killing one passenger.
A teen named Conroy, 14, from Mildura, died after the allegedly stolen vehicle he was travelling in smashed into a tree on the Calder Highway at Woosang, 240km north-west of Melbourne, on Saturday.
The driver, 18, and another passenger, 14, are both fighting for life after they were cut from the ute and airlifted to hospital.
Police said the vehicle was travelling along the Calder Highway when it left the road just before 10am.
Detective Sergeant Ashley Pendrick said: 'It took rescue workers some time to get them out of the vehicle, and it would have been really confronting for them to come across it this morning.'
Police allege the ute was stolen from Mildura, and footage showed the vehicle swerving across two lanes while two passengers hung out of the windows.
Their bodies were almost entirely outside the ute as friends filmed the stunt.
Conroy's family said he was a 'beautiful young soul' who was 'taken from us far too soon'.
Two of the teenagers can be seen hanging outside the ute before it crashed
One teenager died and the other two are fighting for life in hospital
The crash occurred on the Calder Highway at Woosang, 240km north-west of Melbourne on Saturday
One of the boys in the vehicle is in a coma with a brain bleed and broken bones and is on a breathing tube.
'At this stage, it is still too early to know what the coming days will bring, and our family is holding onto hope with everything we have,' a family member wrote in an online fundraiser.
'These boys are deeply loved. They are kind, full of life, and have their whole futures ahead of them.
'Our family is devastated, frightened, and praying every moment for strength and healing.'
Friends paid tribute to Conroy on social media, with one saying he was grieving the death of his 'big cousin'.
'Fly in heaven … just sad I seen it all last night,' he wrote.
Another said: 'Forever gonna miss u mah bruva, can't believe ya gone, only 14.'
Detective Sergeant Pendrick said detectives were trying to determine how fast the allegedly stolen car had been travelling.
'There was certainly a high impact with the tree, there's no doubt about that,' he said.
'We look at everything. We'll look at speed, we'll look at the road condition, we will look at the manner of driving.'