Sister fights for life after speedboat tragedy

DODIE Wilson, 12, remains in a coma after a speedboat accident in southeast Queensland in which her sister and another teenage girl died. 

THE family of one of the two teenage girls killed in a speedboat accident in rural Queensland on Tuesday was last night travelling to Brisbane to be with their youngest daughter, Dodie, who remains in a medically induced coma in hospital.

Paris Wilson,and Cameron O'Neill-Mullin, both 16, died when an inflatable "biscuit" tube they were riding swung out on a bend and slammed into a tree while being towed behind a speedboat at the Goondiwindi Natural Heritage and Water Park in southern Queensland.

Dodie Wilson, 12, who was also riding the tube, sustained critical injuries and was flown to hospital in Brisbane on Tuesday night. Paris and Dodie's elder sister, Bianca Wilson, 17, was driving the boat.

The Wilson girls were on holiday from St Hilda's Anglican school on the Gold Coast. Cameron was on a five-week exchange from St Paul's School for Girls in Baltimore, Maryland. The Wilsons are a well-known Goondiwindi farming family.

Angus Wilson, the Wilson girls' father, said last night that Dodie remained in an induced coma at Mater Children's hospital in Brisbane and was having trouble breathing, but also showed signs of recovery. "It's looking promising that's she's got no brain damage," he said. "There's certainly a number of fractured or broken ribs, and a number of other bruises and damaged sections of the body. But generally it's looking positive."

Mr Wilson said the news was helping the family come to terms with their loss. "It's good we've got some positive news we can hold on to with our other daughter," he said. "It certainly has helped, because I don't know how you would handle losing two girls."

Head of school at St Hilda's, Peter Crawley, who had just left the Wilson family when The Australian contacted him, said the family was coping as well as could be expected. "The Wilsons have spoken with the parents in America, and both mothers have understandably shared mutual grief," he said.

Fellow students, friends and others posted tributes online yesterday.

Maritime Safety Queensland is understood to have visited Goondiwindi yesterday to begin an investigation.