Four children, mother die after vehicle incinerated in Queensland crash
A mother and her four children are dead after a head-on crash with a truck near Kingaroy, north-west of Brisbane.
Police said a southbound Nissan station wagon smashed into a northbound truck on the Bunya Highway near Kumbia, 220 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, about 7.20pm on Monday.
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The station wagon pulled out to overtake a truck and hit an oncoming truck and both vehicles "went up in flames" upon impact, according to police.
One of the children, a young girl, was rushed to Kingaroy Hospital in a critical condition and later flown to the Queensland Children’s Hospital, but she died during the flight.
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The mother, a 35-year-old woman from the Hervey Bay suburb of Eli Waters, and the three other children, all aged under 10, were declared dead at the scene.
The truck driver, a 47-year-old man, was taken to Kingaroy Hospital suffering from minor injuries and shock.
"This is a catastrophic incident scene, it’s certainly one of the worst accidents I’ve ever seen, it’s just a tragedy for everyone involved," a police spokesman said at the scene.
Queensland Ambulance Service assistant commissioner Stephen Zsombok said his "seasoned" medics described the scene as "horrific, extremely traumatic and very unsettling".
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The Bunya Highway was expected to remain closed for most of Tuesday with local diversions in place.
The Forensic Crash Unit was investigating.
Last week, six lives were lost during 48 hours on Queensland roads.
The state's road toll for the year has climbed to 83 fatalities. Near the end of May during the previous five years, the road toll was: 92 (2018), 86 (2017), 96 (2016), 95 (2015) and 83 (2014).