The sole survivor of a horrific Melbourne car crash that killed five teenagers says she was "looking into the eyes of death" in the moments before the accident.
In an interview airing the Nine Network's A Current Affair program, Elissa Iannetta, 15, said her brother Anthony covered her face before the high-speed crash in the northern Melbourne suburb of Mill Park on January 17.
Driver Steven Johnstone, 19, and his half-brother Will Te-Whare, Anthony Iannetta, Matt Lister, 17, and Ben Hall, 19, all died instantly when the car came off the road at 140km/h at 2am (AEST).
Elissa, who was seriously injured in the crash said the other passengers in the car were too intimidated to tell Mr Johnstone to slow down.
"The look in Anthony and Matthew's eyes — I had never ever seen someone so scared in their life," Elissa told host Tracy Grimshaw.
"And it was like I was looking into the eyes of death, like I could see it coming but I didn't know to what extent."
Elissa said she and her friends were at Mr Hall's home "watching a couple of movies and just talking" before they decided to go out in the car.
Mr Johnstone ran red lights and was speeding but Elissa denied the group was "hooning around".
An autopsy revealed Mr Johnstone had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.19 at the time of his death.
Elissa said neither she or her brother knew Mr Johnstone was drink driving.
"Usually you can tell if a person is drunk or you they start walking funny, or whatever it is," she said.
"If Anthony knew that he was drunk he wouldn't have let any of us jump in the car."
Elissa was trapped in the wreckage of the vehicle for more than an hour after the crash.
The accident has triggered a debate in Victoria on whether or not probationary drivers should be forced to use speed limiters.
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