May 28, 2019
A mother and four children were killed in a fiery head-on crash between a truck and a car on the Bunya Highway near Kumbia on Monday night.
The incident occurred near the Mannuem Road turn-off, about seven kilometres south of Kumbia.
Emergency services were called to the horrific scene about 7:20pm.
Both lanes of the highway were blocked by the high-speed crash.
Preliminary investigations indicate a Nissan SUV was travelling south on the Bunya Highway when it pulled out to overtake a truck.
The car then hit an oncoming semi-trailer head-on.
The semi-trailer overturned and both vehicles caught on fire.
The driver of the truck, a 47-year-old Taabinga man, was taken to Kingaroy Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
The driver of the car, a 35-year-old Eli Waters woman, and three of her children – two boys and a girl – died at the scene.
Another daughter was rushed by ambulance to Kingaroy Hospital with critical injuries.
She was later flown by helicopter to the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane but died during the flight.
The four children were aged between two and six.
Fire crews extinguished the burning vehicles and grass fires which were ignited nearby.
Specialist police were despatched to the scene from Brisbane.
Investigations are continuing.
UPDATE 10:30am: The highway is still blocked in both directions.
UPDATE 11:15am: The Bunya Highway is now open.
[UPDATED]
