Driver ‘lost control’ in fatal crash

A WITNESS said he heard no sounds of braking before a car crashed at The Panorama in Tallai on Sunday night, killing a woman and critically injuring the male driver.

It is believed the car crossed to the opposite side of the road and collided with two trees before stopping in the middle of the road.

Senior Sergeant Brett MacGibbon said the car was travelling south along The Panorama just past Valhalla Ct when the accident happened.

“He has for whatever reason lost control (of the car) when negotiating a long lefthand bend,” he said. “Despite very good efforts from paramedics the female has unfortunately passed away.”

Clinical nurse Simon Howe, 42, who rushed to help after hearing the crash from his home, said he found the 57year-old woman pinned in the passenger seat and a male driver who was barely conscious.

“From the driver’s side he was slumped across the passenger because (his body) was hiding the female,” Mr Howe said. “When I saw her, that doubled the ordeal, we tried to pull the lady out. That was when we realised she was pinned.

“She wasn’t responsive, he was coming in and out of consciousness.”

The woman died shortly after the crash, while the man was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman told the Bulletin the male driver had “severe internal injuries and leg injuries”. He remains in a critical condition in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.