Deaths inquest begins

By Dion Teasdale
THE inquest into the deaths of two Healesville paramedics on the Black Spur last year began yesterday (Monday).
Last week the Victorian Coroner asked VicRoads to close the Maroondah Highway for a coronial inspection of the fatal crash site.
The closure was scheduled for today (Tuesday) at 10am and it was anticipated that the road would be closed for up to 30 minutes.
The highway was to be closed between Selovers Lookout and Fernshaw Reserve, a seven-kilometre stretch of the Black Spur east of Healesville.
Paramedics Robert Bland and Phillip Oakley were killed on 2 January last year after their ambulance crashed on a bend on the Black Spur.
The inquest into the deaths of the two men is scheduled to run for five days, ending on Friday, 2 December.
Ambulance Employees Australia (AEA) is expected to question whether driver training, vehicle safety and mechanical faults contributed to the accident.