The second of two young men killed in a horror crash in northern NSW has been identified.
Jordan Chetcuti, 26, was killed alongside Tristan ‘Tizzy’ Dunn, 26, also known as Tristan English, when their high-powered Ford Falcon XR6 veered off Droney Bridge and into the Richmond River at Fairy Hill, near Casino, on Wednesday night.
The third occupant, a 22-year-old female passenger, miraculously managed to escape unharmed before the vehicle submerged.
The woman then ran 2km to raise the alarm.
Emergency services arrived at the the scene quickly but the rescue operation turned into a recovery effort.
Police rescue and SES crews remained at the scene on Thursday to retrieve the men’s bodies from the submerged car.
Mr Chetcuti’s aunt, Kiara Piening, took to social media with a tribute on Thursday night.
‘It’s still so surreal that you grew your wings last night. The last thing you said to me was ”not a good time I’ll call you back” and here I am now forever waiting on that call,’ she said.
Ms Piening said she would miss her nephew’s regular phone calls.
‘I’ve gone from having you kill my life by peppering my phone non-stop to just wishing you’d call knowing I’ll never hear from you again.
‘I’ll forever be grateful for all the great memories we shared and our random adventures.
‘It was through circumstances I met you but through loyalties that I came to love you as if you were my own.’
It’s understood Mr Chetcuti had been released from behind bars a few days ago and was set to celebrate his 27th birthday on February 2.
‘Part of me wishes you never got out on Monday coz then I’d still get to see you Saturday… But I know that I have to keep on living holding onto you with our memories,’ Ms Piening said.
‘I know I’ll see you again someday… fly high Jordan.’
Tributes have also flooded social media from Mr English’s grieving friends.
‘Rest in peace Tizzy, we’re forever gonna miss your craziness, always in our hearts’ one post read.
Mr English is understood to have grown up in Casino and spent time living in South .
In 2022, Richmond Police issued a public appeal for assistance in tracking down Mr English, then aged 23, who was wanted by virtue of a conviction warrant.
The car involved in the crash, a lime Ford Falcon XR6, was recovered from the river and towed from the scene on Thursday afternoon.
An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the single vehicle crash continues.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Locals say a sharp turn before the bridge gives drivers ‘no room for error’.
‘There are no guardrails or anything to stop you going over the bridge,’ John Miller told the ABC.
‘If you go over the bridge, you go straight into the river.’
The two men were among five lives lost in fatal crashes across NSW within 24 hours.
Another man died following a two-car crash at Ilford in the state’s central west in Thursday morning.
Two more men aged 60 and 62 also died in a head-on crash on the Great Western Highway near Linden in the Blue Mountains on Wednesday night.