Two children have been rushed to hospital along with a man and woman in their 50s after a horrific crash on a major freeway.
Emergency crews rushed to the M1 Pacific Motorway at Helensvale at the northern end of Queensland’s Gold Coast, after a Mitsubishi Triton ute collided with the rear end of a police car at 1.20pm on Friday.
The crash happened near Exit 62 and members of the police, ambulance and fire departments were quickly on scene to help the four injured people to escape.
A 55-year-old male police officer, the 54-year-old female driver of the ute and her two-year-old passenger sustained serious injuries.
Four people, including two children under 10, have been rushed to hospital in serious conditions after a major crash on the M1 Pacific Motorway in Helensvale, Queensland
A spokesperson for Queensland Police said that the police car had stopped on the side of the motorway before the collision
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson said four people were in serious but stable condition and were being taken to Gold Coast University Hospital.
Among the injured was the two-year-old girl who sustained facial injuries, another girl aged under 10 with a leg laceration, and the two drivers in their 50s.
The police officer had chest and abdominal injuries and the woman had leg injuries.
A Queensland Police Service spokesman said the police car had been driving along the M1 before it was hit by the ute.
The police car had stopped on the side of the motorway and was performing traffic duties before being struck.
They were not pursuing anybody at the time, the spokesman confirmed.
Photos of the car show that its entire rear end has been crushed into the cabin of the vehicle.
A third car which had stopped to offer assistance was also involved in the crash but nobody from the car was injured.
The Forensic Crash Unit is now investigating the three-vehicle crash.
Traffic has congested in the area and stretches as far back as Dreamworld
Two southbound lanes of traffic remain closed near the crash site and congested traffic is now reaching Dreamworld while the wreckage is cleared.
Police have urged all motorists to avoid the area for the time being.
‘Motorists heading south are urged to avoid the area or expect long delays’, the spokesperson said.
Other people on the motorway at the time who saw the crash said that they saw the ute slam in into the back of the police car.
Kate Rootsey told the Courier Mail that she saw one of the officers trapped in their car when she drove past.
‘It looks like someone ran into a police car and it looked badly smashed,’ she said.
‘I could see the police officer in the vehicle.’
Mr Rootsey added that a number of drivers were slowing down to look at the wreckage as they drove past which was making the congested traffic worse.
Meanwhile, roughly an hour later on the other side of Brisbane Fire and Emergency Services responded to a single vehicle crash on Caboolture River Road at Upper Caboolture at 2:30pm.
A car had crashed into a tree and multiple ambulance crews and police were seen on the scene.
It is believed there are serious injuries.
More to come.
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