A Queensland mum and her four young children have died in a fiery head-on crash despite the heroic efforts of paramedics who fought through flames to reach them.
Emergency crews were devastated that they could not save the family, whose station wagon slammed into an oncoming truck south of Kingaroy.
Paramedics had to fight their way through flames and smoke to reach the vehicle, which was set ablaze along with the truck.
Paramedics were at the scene but were not able to save the family. Source: ABC Australia
They managed to pull out one child, a girl who'd suffered horrific burns, but there was nothing they could do to save the others.
The mother and three children died at the scene. The child pulled from the car made it to hospital and onto a rescue flight bound for Brisbane but she died in the air.
All of the children were under 10.
The truck driver was also injured but managed to free himself as the blaze spread to surrounding grasslands.
Police say the woman was trying to overtake when her car slammed into the truck, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
Ambulance Service Assistant Commissioner Stephen Zsombok said paramedics faced a daunting scene, with victims trapped inside the burning car.
"These are very seasoned officers and they've explained this as tragic, extremely traumatic with people obviously involved in the car that's caught fire," he said.
"Smoke, fire, our officers have gone through that dangerous scene to get to the child they were able to work on ... Unfortunately, that child died.
"Our hearts go out to the family and friends of those people."
Police say the family was from Eli Waters at Hervey Bay, about three hours drive from the crash scene on the Bunya Highway at Kumbia, just south of Kingaroy.
"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.
The forensic crash unit is investigating and the highway remains closed at Kumbia.
