Lockyer Valley car crash: Teens in critical condition identified
Two of the teens fighting for life after a shocking single-car crash west of Brisbane, where neighbours rushed to their aid as the car they were in went up in flames, have been identified.
Ipswich
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Two of three teenagers involved in a fiery single-car crash in the Lockyer Valley this morning have been identified.
Seventeen-year-old Cassie Battisson and 15-year-old Tyson Brehm — along with another unnamed teen understood to be Cassie’s 15-year-old brother, were travelling in a Mazda CX-9 at the time of the crash at Brightview in the Lockyer Valley.
According to police the crash happened on a rural road at the intersection of Brightview District and Brightview roads, while attempting to overtake a truck at 6am Tuesday.
The car left the road and crashed into a power pole, before catching fire, according to LifeFlight crews who flew the female patient to hospital.
Cassie was taken in a critical condition to the Princess Alexandra Hospital while Tyson and the other boy were taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and Princess Alexandra Hospital, also in critical conditions.
All three were being treated for serious head, limb and abdominal injuries.
Cassie is currently in a stable but critical, condition.
A close family friend to Cassie, Bree Berg, said she was devastated.
“No freaking way Cassie my baby girl,” Ms Berg said.
“My heart is broken.
“Tyson and Cass (you) are strong I hope (you) pull through this … I love you both with all my heart.
“Please I can’t believe it I don’t know what I’d do without (you) in my life please be okay.”
Ms Berg, from Caboolture, said the pair had been through a lot.
“She’s was an amazing beautiful bright little lady loving and caring,” she said.
“She had been through a lot and still had a smile on her face.
“Tyson had just lost his dad … he was always there for me and my children.
“He is a good kid.”
Police remained at the crash scene clearing up the wreckage by midday on Tuesday.
A local resident was the first on scene, as the car had crashed into the corner of his property.
He helped pull the children out of the car and said he remembered seeing them lying at his feet.
His next-door neighbour, off-duty nurse Angeline Martin, said she heard a “big bang” about 6am, and ran outside to see three children had been pulled out of the wrecked vehicle.
“I haven’t seen such a crash with my own eyes,” she said.
“When I got to the scene, the car started to burn,” she said.
“(It) completely burst into a big flame.
“If the farmers were not here, I think one or two (children) would have gone up in flames.”
Ms Martin said the children were ‘badly injured’ and looked like their legs had been ‘bent’.
“One of the kid’s legs was completely dismantled … I think the bones had been broken,” she said.
She said she held the Cassie in her lap and consoled her as she asked for her brother, who was also in the crash.
“She was asking me, is there anything wrong with my arms, my legs and I was telling her no, nothing’s wrong,” Ms Martin said.
Ms Martin said she thought Cassie’s ankle was broken.
No charges have been laid.
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