Emergency services were called to the Tatyoon Road just south of the Langi Logan Road intersection a few minutes after 11am on Tuesday. 

Ararat Police Constable George Yeoman said the crash was still under investigation but it appeared that a dog had run out in front of the truck as it was travelling south.

“Unfortunately, the dog has been killed,” he said.

“The two occupants of the truck, a driver and passenger, have been taken to hospital.

“The extent of their injuries are currently unknown.”

Skid marks on the road suggested the truck had braked at some point before or after hitting the dog and coming to a rest in a ditch beside the road.

It was believed the dog belonged to the family of a nearby landowner, who were on scene to collect the animal soon after the crash.

The trucks, which was towing a tandem trailer at the time of the crash, had a black and white ARTC logo on its side, indicating it belonged to the Australian Rail Track Corporation.

The ARTC is owned by the federal government and is responsible for maintaining 8500 kilometers of rail lines across Australia.

Two ambulances, a Country Fire Authority truck and a Powercor crew with a ‘cherry picker’ also attended the scene.

Powercor did not list on its website any faults or outages in the Langi Logan area in the hours after the crash.