A farm worker killed trying to move stray cows from a country road has been remembered by her daughter as a selfless and kind-hearted woman.
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Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives continue to probe the circumstances of Monday's crash in Mooroopna, near Shepparton, including how the cattle were able to escape their paddock.
Christine Mitchell, 53, was struck and killed about five kilometres north of Mooroopna on the Echuca Road just after 5am.
Mrs Mitchell's daughter, Megan Avery, said her mother, who owned a farm in nearby Undera with her husband Peter Mitchell, was on her way to work at a dairy farm when she pulled over after coming across the cattle.
Police said she had got out of her car, put her hazard lights on and was trying to move the animals off the road when three cars approached in the opposite direction on the 100km/h stretch of road.
What happened next is still under investigation, police said, but a collision occurred involving all four cars. Mrs Mitchell was hit and died at the scene.
The drivers of the three other cars, a 42-year-old man, 40-year-old man and a 65-year-old man, were all hospitalised.
Two were flown to Melbourne and one was treated locally. All three were in a stable condition.
The scene of a fatal collision on Echuca Rd, Mooroopna North about 5.30am. A woman in her 50s died. https://t.co/65pFyzCu9K @sheppartonnews pic.twitter.com/TykETLZjNO— Cameron Whiteley (@cwhiteley12) October 9, 2016
Mrs Avery said her mother was a kind-hearted, loving, dedicated and hard-working person.
She loved her family, animals and her plants, Mrs Avery said.
"She was always putting everybody else's needs first before her own and unfortunately that's why she died," Mrs Avery said.
Mrs Avery said her death could have been avoided.
"The accident was on a straight piece of road so if the drivers of the vehicles had slowed down at mum's hazard light and the cows weren't out on the road in the first place she would still be here, seeing her daughter be married in six weeks and her unborn grandchild be born in March," Mrs Avery said.
A passerby told Fairfax Media they had helped the owner of the cows put the animals back into the paddock the night before the crash occurred, but they got out again.
The livestock manager of Coomboona Holsteins, the farm Mrs Mitchell worked at, said she was a good friend and colleague who would be greatly missed.
"The care and dedication she gave our elite cows was second to none," Michael Boyd said.
"Christine Mitchell, today a true angel returned to heaven."
Mrs Mitchell was survived by her husband and three daughters – Kirsty Keogh, Mrs Avery and bride-to-be Sarah Mitchell – as well as her adopted son, Jamie McFarlane, and four grandchildren.
