Police said the Nissan Navara left the road and hit a tree in Buxton, about 40 kilometres north-west of Wollongong, about 7.50pm yesterday.
They believe some of the victims — three females and two males who died at the scene — were as young as 14 or 15 and went to school locally.
Superintendent Paul Fuller said it was one of the worst accident scenes he'd seen in 38 years and some of the first responders were likely to have known the victims.
"It's a horrific accident scene and a traumatic event like this will have a devastating impact on the families, friends and the local community," he said, overnight.
"We believe a number of the children go to the local high school.
"We have spoken to the principal of the high school to facilitate some counselling at the school tomorrow when the students arrive."
Fuller said the driver, an 18-year-old man who escaped life-threatening injuries, had been arrested and taken to Liverpool Hospital for mandatory testing but not charged.
Fuller said specialist police were working to identify the victims and determine the cause of the crash.
"A tragedy of this magnitude, it's gonna have ripple effects through the — for their family, friends and for the local community," he said.
Local councillor Michael Banasik said the crash was a "terrible tragedy" for the tight-knit town of 400–500 people.
"It's devastating for Buxton and the general community, you know, it's just horrible," he told 9news.com.au.
"Buxton's a great place, small, small town and yeah, this is a terrible tragedy, no matter where it's happened."
Banasik, who struggled to put the impact of the accident into words, said what little was known about the crash was enough to "make everybody sick in the stomach", adding that the families involved would be devastated.
A medical team was flown in by helicopter to treat the victims, firefighters said.
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2022-09-06 17:44:59Z
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