Police consider fatigue as a factor in tragic Scene Rim crash

Police have revealed how the driver and passenger of a 4WD that plunged into a dam near Brisbane pulled two children from the submerged wreckage but were unable to get to the other two in time. Fatigue may have been a factor in the crash.

Police have revealed how two adults in a 4WD that plunged into a dam southwest of Brisbane tried desperately to save the four children trapped in the wreckage, but could not get to two of them in time.

Inspector Douglas McDonald said investigators were keeping an open mind while they work to determine the circumstances surrounding yesterday’s tragic at crash on Beaudesert Boonah Rd in Wyaralong, near Boonah, that claimed the lives of two young kids.

Insp McDonald said the two adults – a 23-year-old male driver and his 33-year-old female passenger- were able to self extricate from the vehicle before they made desperate attempts to get the children out from the back of the submerged Landrover Discovery.

The Landrover Discovery crashed into a guard rail before it plunged into Wyaralong Dam with a family-of-six inside. Picture: Channel 9

A five-week-old baby girl and a one-year-old boy were pulled from the car first, while the two other children – a four-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy remained in the submerged car for a significantly longer period of time.

“Unfortunately those two children were trapped in the vehicle longer than the other occupants of that vehicle,” Insp McDonald said.

He also said “there was some difficulty getting some of the doors open to the vehicle to extract the kids”.

The two adults are expected to undergo surgery for non-life threatening injuries today.

The family were travelling from Pimpama to Pratten

Two children died in the horror crash near Boonah. Picture: Channel 7

Insp McDonald said initial investigations suggest there are no signs the driver was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.

“Alcohol doesn’t appear on initial investigation to be a contributing factor,” Insp McDonald said.

“People travelling long distances, fatigue is a big killer on our roads and that’s certainly part of our investigation on this matter … We are keeping an open mind on our investigation.”

Initial investigations suggest the car travelled into a road barrier on the left hand side before it veered across the road and struck a three-strand wire barrier.

Police are investigating whether fatigue was a factor. Picture: Channel 7

The car subsequently flipped and slid down a stone embankment, before landing in the water where passers by made desperate attempts to assist in pulling the children from the submerged car.

“It’s really traumatic for the first responders and for the members of the public who did a fantastic job out there,” Insp McDonald said.

A police car also flipped and crashed while responding to the incident.

Insp McDonald said the police officer was wearing a seatbelt and escaped with minor injuries.

“Unfortunately the accident occurred on the way to this job,” he said.

“It shows how easily it can occur …”

“Thankfully he has relatively minor injuries considering the vehicle did roll on the way to this job.”

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