Amellia Hartman recalls car collision on ‘shocking’ road
A crash victim has recalled the devastating scene following a head-on collision – and the astonishing way her three-year-old daughter acted as the eight victims waited almost an hour for emergency services to arrive.
Gympie
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Gold Coast mum Amellia Hartman never imagined that a lunch stop on her drive between Gootchie and Woolooga would end in a horrific car accident leaving her and her five passengers “battered and bruised” and two others critically injured.
Mrs Hartman, her mum Kerrieann Winkley, teenage sister Imogen Winkley, her two young daughters Charlotte and Estelle Hartman, and next door neighbour Darcy Keen had stopped at Gunalda’s Pie Face for lunch after visiting Mrs Hartman’s Gootchie property on Saturday, June 10.
They were heading back to her parent’s house at Woolooga along Miva Rd, a single-lane country road which joins the Bruce Hwy to the Bauple Woolooga Rd 25km north of Gympie.
As Mrs Hartman drove over a crest in the road past a white guide marker about 2.30pm, a blue sedan collided with her white 4WD in what she described as “a bit of a flash”.
The next thing the 26-year-old recalled was the inflated airbags and the screams of her daughters in the back seat.
Luckily, the hood of her brand new 4WD bore the brunt of the impact, and apart from external and internal bruises, some fractured ribs, haematomas and severe whiplash, all six managed to get out of the car.
Once they were out they were met with a scene of horror: the front hoods of both cars were smashed in and the driver, a 23-year-old man, was trapped and in agony.
His passenger, 16-year-old Lilly Hayes, was laying on the road.
The sounds she heard in that moment haunt her dreams.
To her astonishment, she saw her daughter Charlotte go over to check on Lilly.
“That’s not something you want a three-year-old to experience,” she said.
A couple on a motorbike had pulled over, were helping to call emergency services and held Lilly in the recovery position.
Mrs Hartman said they tried to get the trapped driver out of the car, but it “wasn’t until the fire trucks came and cut him out” was he was able to be freed.
It was about an hour before the emergency services arrived, said Mrs Hartman.
“It was so scary,” she said.
Two rescue helicopters were called and both Lilly and the driver were flown to hospital in a critical condition.
Mrs Hartman and her five passengers were taken to Gympie Hospital and released later that night.
“We are all very battered and bruised,” she said.
She was astounded and thankful at how her car held up, having bought it a few months ago.
“Thank god we are all still lucky enough to be alive, thank god the airbags went off,” she said.
“It’s a shocking single lane road and a speed limit of 100km/h is way too fast.”
“I hope the others pull through.”
The family of Lilly Hayes are by her bedside in the Queensland Children’s Hospital where Lilly remained in a critical condition on Tuesday.
On Monday, June 12, a GoFundMe campaign was launched for Lilly’s family, so they can stay “in Brisbane to support each other and be with Lilly.”
Campaign creator Sherryn Wynne said Lilly had “extensive” recovery and rehabilitation ahead of her.
Police are still investigating the accident and believe “speed may be a factor involved”.
“We are looking very heavily at the driver of the blue sedan,” Sergeant Glen Ruston said in an interview with 7news on Monday.
They are asking witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage of the accident to contact police.
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