Crash on Coppins Crossing Rd, Whitlam claims the lives of three Bangladeshi tourists sightseeing in Canberra

The three passengers who died were a 61-year-old man, a 54-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man.

All were on tourist visas and are understood to have only been in Canberra for a short time.

Details about the fourth man and driver of the Toyota Yaris hatchback, also understood to be from the Bangladeshi community, have not been released and he remains in a critical condition in Canberra hospital.

The Yaris was travelling on the downhill section of Coppins Crossing Rd, past the intersection of Hazel Hawke Ave, when it collided head-on with a late model Toyota Hiace van travelling up the hill from Denman Prospect.

The male driver of the van, who is from Canberra, suffered non-life threatening injuries in the crash.

That downhill section of Coppins Crossing Rd narrows from four lanes to two beyond the new Whitlam subdivision, with several bends winding down to the low-level concrete causeway over the Molonglo River. It is a 60km/h speed zone.

Coppins Crossing had only recently reopened after flooding however road conditions were described as good and the weather clear at the time of the collision.

Investigators are still assessing the scene and attempting to determine the cause of the collision, which forced the Yaris off the road and up an embankment. Rescuers had to cut the roof off the car to extract the occupants.

It was the worst multiple road fatality in Canberra since March 20, 2010, when four people died on Canberra Ave.

In that incident, a drunk and unlicensed Justin Williams, who was driving a stolen Mazda 626 with his girlfriend Skye Webbe, had run three red lights and was doing an estimated 157km/h when he ploughed into the side of another turning vehicle, breaking it in half.

Inside the turning car were victims Scott Raymond Oppelaar, his de facto wife Samantha Leanne Ford, and their baby son Brody Oppelaar.

All three were killed instantly.

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Williams died on the way to hospital, while Ms Webbe sustained serious injuries but survived.

Former Assistant Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg had only been in the role of ACT Chief Police Officer for a few weeks and had been visiting officers working on the front line when he received the call.

"It was a horrific addition to the other gruesome images of street policing I had stored in my mind," he wrote in his autobiography.

So far this year 17 people have died on ACT roads, the highest in 12 years.

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