Two children dead, toddler critical after car crashes into dam
A young girl and a teen boy have died, and a one-year-old boy is fighting for life after a horror crash that saw a 4WD with a Darling Downs family-of-six inside plunge off a road into a dam southwest of Brisbane. Two others were also killed on Queensland roads yesterday.
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Two children have died and a toddler was fighting for his life in hospital overnight after a horrific crash that saw a family SUV with six people inside plunge into a dam southwest of Brisbane.
All six were members of the same family from Pratten, 35km southwest of Warwick.
A four-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy were killed after a Landrover Discovery crashed into a dam on Beaudesert Boonah Rd in Wyaralong, near Boonah, about 2pm on Sunday.
A one-year-old boy was pulled from the car unresponsive and later flown in a critical condition after paramedics were forced to perform CPR.
The 23-year-old male driver, a woman, 33, and a baby girl were taken to hospital in a stable condition.
The baby was in the arms of a passer-by when emergency services arrived.
Police Inspector Douglas McDonald said the car hit the guard rail, before it flipped and plunged into a shallow body of water, where it remained submerged for a period of time.
Passers-by rushed into the water in an effort to help people from the car, with both an off-duty doctor and a critical care paramedic on the scene.
It’s understood the children drowned, and did not die as a result of the injuries from the initial impact of the crash.
Insp McDonald said that the reason for the car’s crash into the guard rail remained under investigation.
“We are still looking into the circumstance that led to the crash, and have a number of people to speak to at this time,” he said.
“It appears the vehicle collide with road barriers and crossed the road before flipping into the dam,” he said.
The vehicle was submerged upside-down, with only its tyres protruding from the shallow water.
“It was a very tragic and confronting scene for those people today,” Insp McDonald said.
“Absolutely tragic for the family and certainly tragic by the passers by too. It was fantastic work by them to get involved and to help rescue the occupants of that vehicle … their actions were certainly pivotal in making sure this wasn’t worse.
“It’s always tragic for emergency services responding to these sorts of incidents where children are involved.”
In responding to the tragedy, a police car rolled on its way to the scene and officers sustained minor injuries.
Queensland Ambulance Service regional operations supervisor Mark Nugent said the help from passers-by played a crucial role.
“They contributed to possibly some positive outcomes for some of the patients, there’s no doubt about that,” Mr Nugent said.
“It wasn’t just (the off-duty paramedic and doctor), there was a remarkable amount of other people and support from the general public and because of that we were able to get the best outcomes for the patients that we could.”
Police divers and the forensic crash unit remained at the scene late last night.
Two motorcyclists were also killed in separate crashes across the Gold Coast on Sunday, bringing the day’s death toll on Queensland roads to four.
A 26-year-old man was killed after the motorbike he was riding crashed head-on with a truck in Advancetown about 9.50am Sunday.
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