Hannah Ferguson had just spent six wonderful days at her family's farm with boyfriend Reagen Skinner when the pair made the fateful decision to travel to Dubbo so Reagen could catch a train home.
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As the pair sat in a queue of six vehicles at roadworks just 20 kilometres from their destination, a prime mover careered into them.
Hannah and Reagen, both aged just 19, were killed in the crash which also injured another 10 people.
"Wrong place at the wrong time," Hannah's devastated father, Ian Ferguson, told the Herald.
The pair, who had been seeing each other for eight months after meeting at Charles Sturt University's campus at Bathurst, had spent almost a week together at Hannah's family property at Gulargambone.
The pair set off on Tuesday morning on the 110-kilometre trip so Reagen could catch the XPT at Dubbo.
Hannah, who had graduated from Dubbo Christian School and was about to start her second year studying a business degree at Bathurst, was staying behind to keep her summer job in Dubbo.
They were just kilometres away from their destination when they stopped at the roadworks.
The young couple were in one of four cars which had stopped behind a utility and a B-double in the southbound lanes when tragedy struck about 12.30pm.
The driver of the semi-trailer, a 50-year-old man, suffered leg fractures and suspected internal injuries and was flown to Westmead Hospital.
He is yet to speak with crash investigators in charge of discovering how the tragedy occurred.
As the families of Hannah and Reagen grapple with the randomness of their deaths, relatives and friends of an 18-year-old man are questioning how he survived.
The teen was in another of the cars which had been crushed between the two trucks, his vehicle ending up under the semi-trailer.
The wreck had been completely crushed except for a small pocket between a back wheel and the engine bay.
Somehow, the teenager ended up in the pocket.
He was trapped for more than three hours before being flown to Concord Hospital's specialist burns unit for treatment to burns to his back.
In a third car were the driver, a 43-year-old woman who suffered a broken arm, and two passengers, a 52-year-old woman and 25-year-old man who suffered minor injuries. They were taken to Dubbo Base Hospital and later discharged.
In a fourth car were the driver, a 26-year-old woman who suffered facial injuries and was taken to Dubbo Hospital, a 24-year-woman who was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with a suspected spinal injury, a two-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man who were taken to Dubbo Base Hospital with minor injuries.
The girl and her uncle have also been discharged.
The driver of a utility, a 39-year-old man, and the driver of the B-double, a 27-year-old man, suffered minor injuries and were also taken to Dubbo Base Hospital.
