Tourists found dead in flooded car might have driven off bridge: police

Two Chinese tourists who died after their car was submerged in floodwaters might have unknowingly driven off the side of a bridge, the police minister has revealed.

The pair – a 26-year-old man and 23-year-old woman – were found in a Subaru Forester recovered on Kilkivan Tansey Road at Kilkivan, a township west of Gympie and about 220 kilometres north of Brisbane.

Chief Inspector Grantley Marcus said the two Chinese nationals who were on a road trip from Brisbane to Mundubbera when flooding hit the area.

“A friend of theirs from here in Australia contacted police on the Tuesday and reported them as missing,” Marcus said.

He said search crews were deployed to the Kilkivan area, but the vehicle was spotted by a member of the media, which helped “fast-track the process”.

“They’ve gone off the bridge into flooded waters, which has resulted in, unfortunately, their drowning in the vehicle,” Marcus said.

Although the vehicle was discovered on Wednesday, it took search teams time to gain access safely because it was still submerged.

Marcus said divers recovered the two bodies on Thursday morning, as well as identification documents, although the two had yet to be formally identified.

Widespread heavy rain last week flooded Bundaberg and surrounding regions, with large parts of the Central Queensland town inundated as the swollen Burnett River broke its banks, in scenes reminiscent of the 2010 floods.

Kilkivan sits just outside the Barambah Creek catchment, a tributary of the Burnett River.

The town had recorded about 350 millimetres of rain across four days from March 7.

Marcus said the fire department had conducted 67 swiftwater rescues during the floods, two-thirds of which were within a 24-hour window between Wednesday and Thursday.

Emergency Services Minister Dan Purdie said the pair were the first to die in the extreme weather event.

“I appreciate this is a horrible time for their friends and family and loved ones and our heart goes out to them,” Purdie said.

Marcus said: “They’re only young, they’re only in their early 20s, this is really sad to see.”

The family of the man and woman were heading to Australia, and Marcus said the government was poised to assist them alongside work it had already begun with Chinese authorities.

In Bundaberg, the Burnett River reached a peak of 7.4 metres, impacting 240 homes and 120 businesses.

Marcus said just more than 20 evacuation centres were still open on Thursday morning, down from almost 200.

“We had a lot of our fruit-pickers in those evacuation centres,” Marcus said.

“They’re now returning back to their homes – they will be going back out in the community.”

Marcus said emergency personnel including police, fire crews, and SES were repositioning inland near Longreach as floodwater flowed west, which could inundate Queensland’s inner north for a third time this year.

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