UPDATED: A 38-year-old man with a string of drink-driving priors who allegedly fled the scene of a fatal Palmerston car crash on Friday was arrested over the weekend, while investigations into the cause of the crash remain ongoing, NT Police said.

He has since been charged with a multitude of offenses including hit and run causing death and driving disqualified.

Emergency services attended to the two-vehicle head-on collision that occurred around 5pm Friday on Kirkland Road in Durack, where a 36-year-old male passenger of a vehicle carrying three people was declared dead at the scene.

The two other males occupants, aged 80 and 35, were taken to hospital in stable conditions.

However, the driver of the second vehicle fled immediately following the crash, police said, evading investigators for a night and most of the next day.

The driver who fled was later identified as Christian Mpongo by The Australian, which also reported he had a “long list of drink driving offences” and was last in court in August on a number of charges, including breach of bail, threats to kill, and multiple counts of trespass, contravening a domestic violence order and aggravated assault.

The newspaper reported Mpongo had appeared in courts more than 30 times for various drink driving charges, driving while disqualified, driving without due care and unsafe driving.

Police did not inform the public of exactly who they were searching for, did not provide a photo and did not reference his previous offences.

“Sadly our members have now been on scene to the second fatal on Kirkland road within two days,” Detective Sergeant Richard Musgrave said in the original police statement on Friday.

“That is now two families who have lost a loved one.

“Anyone with information or dash-cam footage is urged to contact police on 131 444 and quote reference P25131352.”

Mr Mpongo was arrested without incident in Farrar on Saturday and remains in custody.

He was later charged with one count of hit and run causing death, careless driving causing death, two counts of careless driving causing serious harm, two counts of hit and run causing serious harm and driving disqualified.

The other crash on the same road occurred on May 14, claiming the life of a 45-year-old woman who was reportedly riding in the back of a Nissan X-Trail that collided with a Toyota Corolla.

Police unusually stressed that the woman in the back of the vehicle died as a result of the crash and was not dead before the collision, as widespread rumours suggested.

The road death toll in the Territory for 2025 now stands at 15 following the two Kirkland Road fatalities.