After a car smashed through a fence and into a home in outback Queensland, a teenage girl is fighting for her life and her friend has suffered facial injuries.
Bree Critch and Cassi West, both 16, were taken to different hospitals after their Toyota Landcruiser collided with a house on Tuesday evening in Chinchilla, 300 kilometers west of Brisbane.
Cassi, a dancing instructor at Xpression Dance Academy, is currently in an induced coma at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, struggling for her life.
Bree is also in a coma and is being treated for ‘non-life threatening’ face injuries at Toowoomba Hospital.
A neighbour who was the first on the scene has opened up about the frantic first moments, revealing the male driver, 18, appeared to be in shock as he tried to help both passengers.
‘The boy driving the car got her out and put [Cassi]in the recovery position, he couldn’t get the other girl out of the car,’ the woman told the Courier Mail.
‘I called triple-0 straight away and stayed with Cassi the whole time.’
‘This is a terrible thing that should never have happened. It’s tragic.’
Another person present at the scene said they heard a horror ‘metal on metal’ screech as the car made impact.
She said she attended to the boy, while her daughter helped one of the girls until paramedics arrived.
Kirty Mitchell, the stepmother of Bree, thanked people for their support in a Facebook post published on Wednesday night.
‘Thanks everyone for your support. Our baby girl Bree needs it more than you know,’ she wrote.
‘We need time to process what has happened and need some privacy for the coming weeks.’
Queensland Police said there was a light coloured Landcruiser Prado that had been involved in the incident, and urged anyone who saw both cars to contact them.
The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Both girls attend Chinchilla High School, with classmates currently being offered counselling while they remain in intensive care.