Stray cow blamed for crash that killed man in his fifties at Barnawatha North

A stray cow has been blamed for two crashes in the state’s north, one of them fatal.

Police say the cow was on the Hume Freeway at Barnawatha North at about 2am when it was struck by a car travelling north.

The four occupants of that car got out.

A second car hit the cow, also hitting two of those people.

A man aged in his 50s, a passenger in the first car died at the scene.

A man aged in his 40s, also a passenger in that first car, is in hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The Hume Freeway is closed northbound at Barnawatha North.

Diversions are in place near the Murray Valley Highway.