A 21-year-old woman driving to work in Australia was killed in a tragic crash, and her father is honoring her memory as someone with “a pure and sincere heart” who always went out of her way to help others.
The collision happened on the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 9, in Somerton, according to a news release from Victoria Police.
Authorities said the incident began when a truck traveling north on Hume Highway was involved in a minor collision with a red sedan near Austrak Drive around 7:45 a.m. local time. After the impact, the truck rolled and slammed into a pole.
The pole then fell onto a silver Honda traveling in the opposite direction, police said.
“Emergency services worked on the driver of the Honda, a 21-year-old Kalkallo woman, but she sadly died at the scene,” police said.
Family and colleagues later identified her as Sayyida Nafeesa Zulfikar.
The truck driver was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the people in the red sedan were not injured, according to police. Authorities have not publicly identified anyone involved in the crash.
In an email on Wednesday, Dec. 10, a spokesperson for Victoria Police said there were no new updates in the case and that the investigation remains ongoing.
In addition to her parents, Sayyida is survived by five brothers.
“She’s always there to help anyone,” her father, Zulfikar Shariff, told Australian outlet 9News. “She holds our family together.”
“She was just driving to work, thinking about what she’s going to do for work and how she is going to help others,” he added.
MyCollege, an Islamic college where Sayyida worked as an administrative officer, announced her death in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“Sister Nafeesa was cherished for her warm presence, welcoming nature, and the genuine care she extended to every family, student, and colleague,” the school wrote. “She consistently demonstrated professionalism, compassion, and integrity in all her interactions. Her loss is deeply felt across the entire MyCollege community.”
