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Two fatals, West End brawl, and two balcony falls on New Year's Eve

By Lucy Stone
Updated

Two people died on Queensland roads on New Year's Eve, while paramedics have attended a West End brawl, two falls from balconies, and 14 single-vehicle crashes across the night.

But Queensland Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Stream said police were on the whole pleased with the behaviour of crowds through Brisbane's entertainment precincts.

Queensland paramedics attended a "large number of incidents".

Queensland paramedics attended a "large number of incidents".Credit: Queensland Ambulance Service

A 35-year-old woman died at the scene of a single-vehicle crash near Bundaberg at 8.49pm, at Bucca Road. Police are investigating the crash.

In the early hours of the morning, paramedics and police also attended a suspected hit and run that cost the life of a 21-year-old man on the Sunshine Coast, appealing for information about the incident.

In Brisbane's CBD, crowds were "well-behaved" and followed police directions to comply with COVID-19 restrictions, Chief Superintendent Stream said.

Seventy-one people were arrested, mostly on public order offences. Police issued notices to appear in court and 60 traffic infringements across the night.

"Obviously we saw lower [crowd] numbers than what we saw in previous years, in and around the city, and certainly the focus was the Valley entertainment precinct, as well as some crowds throughout the West End area overnight," Chief Superintendent Stream said.

In West End, two men suffering from knife wounds were taken to hospital about 1am, one in a serious condition with leg injuries and another in a stable condition with a significant head injury.

Chief Superintendent Stream said the West End stabbings occurred during an alleged "disturbance involving a group of youths", with three males in total receiving stab or slash wounds.

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"Unfortunately those people that were involved in the disturbance, and in fact the people themselves that received those wounds, are being non-compliant and aren't assisting police with the investigation," he said.

On the Gold Coast, a man who suffered a chest injury at 3.04am on Ferry Street and Price Street, Nerang was taken to the Gold Coast University Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Two people fell from balconies in separate incidents.

Paramedics treated a man in his 30s for arm and pelvic injuries after he fell from a balcony at 12.11am in Tamborine. He was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition.

In St Lucia, a 20-year-old man was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in a serious condition with head and pelvic injuries after falling from a four-storey balcony at 3.55am.

A teenage girl was hit by a car in Kelso just after 5am on Chester Court and was taken to Townsville University Hospital in a stable condition.

And a spate of early-morning single-vehicle crashes across the state saw multiple people treated for injuries, including a crash on the Inner City Bypass at Herston at 3.23am that put two people in hospital.

Queensland Ambulance Service Senior Operations Supervisor Grace Elliott said paramedics saw a "large number of incidents" but it was "in line with what we anticipated for a New Year's Eve workload".

"What we have seen as an ambulance service over the past three days, and something that is of increasing concern to us, is an increase in the number of immersions or drownings, and also serious motor vehicle accidents," she said.

Chief Superintendent Stream said there were a "large number of noise complaints" across Brisbane suburbs, but there were no major disturbances.

One watchhouse officer was bitten on the finger during a struggle with a prisoner but no other police were injured throughout the night, he said.

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Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/national/queensland/spate-of-early-morning-incidents-after-new-year-s-celebrations-20210101-p56r5f.html