Two toddlers found dead in a car in the backyard of a family home are said to have climbed into the unused vehicle and were unable to get out.
Specialist detectives head to Central Queensland to investigate the deaths of two little boys believed to be trapped in a disused car.
A crime scene remains in place at a property in Woorabinda, a remote Indigenous community 170km south-west of Rockhampton, following the boys’ deaths on Friday evening.
Police have described the incident as a ‘tragic accident’ as it is believed the two boys, aged two and three, climbed into the car and were unable to get out.
The car – which did not have a working electrical system and inoperable windows – was located in the backyard of the property on Richardson Street and out of view of the adults inside the home.
The two-year-old boy was found unconscious and not breathing in the back seat of the car by family members and was rushed to Woorabinda Hospital at 7.48pm.
Paramedics met the boy and a rescue helicopter was on standby, but they were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead.
When Queensland police officers attended the property and inspected the car at about 9.15pm, they found the three-year-old boy lying in the rear footwell.
“He was not seen by the residents when they found the first child,” said Darrin Shadlow, Central Region crime coordinator.
The three-year-old boy was rushed to hospital but was also pronounced dead.
Mr Shadlow confirmed at a press conference on Saturday that the boys were related but not siblings.
“At this stage we are still investigating, they had not been traveling in that vehicle – it was in the rear garden of the property,” he said.
“It appears this was a tragic accident where the children somehow got into the vehicle and were there for some time.”
Mr Shadlow said their cause of death had not yet been confirmed, but early investigations suggested the boys died from heat-related stress when temperatures in Woorabinda reached 33.7 degrees Celsius on Friday.
A crime scene has been declared and detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
The family of the two toddlers shared tributes to them online.
‘I know I’ll miss seeing his face in Murgon… sneaking off to nannies (sic) to play with the blocks in the sand and have something tasty to eat. You will be sadly missed the little ones,” one person wrote.
Other locals from the community also expressed their condolences.
“Heartache for the entire community Woorabinda, this is too sad to wake up and immediately check Facebook when you see all this,” one person wrote.
‘Woorabinda thinks too much about the community.
“I have no words to send some love to my people in Woorabinda who are feeling heartbroken,” said another.
Detectives who specialize in the sudden unexplained deaths of children – including officers from the Crime and Intelligence Command and the Child Trauma Unit – have been flown from Brisbane to Rockhampton to assist in the investigation.
Woorabinda is a small indigenous community in Central Queensland.
The city made headlines in September 2018 when kidnapped 12-year-old Layla Leisha was spotted there.
Little Layla disappeared from Calliope, Queensland in December 2014.
She was located at an undisclosed location by Australian Federal Police on September 30.