The sister of a university student killed alongside three mates in a horror car crash has urged friends and family to cherish every moment together as she revealed her last moments with her sibling.
Lochlan Parker, 20, Katrina McKeogh, 21, Courtney Smith, 20, and Kirsten Van Gorp were sightseeing in a sedan when they collided with a ute at a sweeping bend in Advancetown in the Gold Coast hinterland just after 1pm on Saturday.
Paramedics desperately tried to revive them, but all four died at the scene.
Ms McKeogh’s sister Andrea penned a heartbreaking Facebook tribute hours after the tragedy, along with a desperate plea to other motorists.
Andrea McKeogh (right) posted a heartfelt Facebook tribute to her sister Katrina (left) after she died in a horror car crash on Saturday
‘I’m completely and utterly at a loss for words. Today around 1pm, my sister Katrina McKeough and three of our close friends were involved in a horrific car crash in the Gold Coast and were killed almost instantly,’ she wrote on Saturday night.
‘I don’t even know how to begin to process this. I loved my sister so much and I feel wretched knowing that the last time we spoke, we fought. Badly.
‘We never made peace with the argument, and now we never will. All I can say is to keep your loved ones close and to cherish every moment.
‘Don’t let pride get in the way of love. I never imagined that this would happen, but it has and I would give anything to have seen her one last time to make it right.’
She urged the friends and families of the other three victims to reach out.
‘I loved them all more than I can say and they all had such bright futures ahead of them. Again, I’m in shock and I don’t even know what to say,’ Ms McKeough wrote.
Ms McKeogh’s (Andrea pictured left, Katrina pictured centre) tribute read to ‘keep your loved ones close and to cherish every moment’
Police and emergency response vehicles at the scene after the crash on Saturday, which occurred after wet weather in the region
‘Take care everyone and please, please f*****g drive safely.’
One of the victims’ families reached out to Ms McKeough’s heartbroken sister.
‘We feel your loss as we too have lost our beautiful Courtney and I don’t know how we are going to walk through life without her. My love and condolences to everyone,’ Anne Smith commented on the post.
‘Andrea your sister would not want you to grieve on any argument you may have had she would want you to remember her love for you.’
Andrea replied: ‘I loved Courtney like my own sister and I’m so sorry for your loss as well. She was such a beautiful, kind and loyal girl and she was finally getting the happiness she deserved after years of missing it. Their lives were all just starting and for it to end the way it did is unspeakably tragic.’
Originally from Nuhlunbuy in the Northern Territory, Ms McKeough moved to Townsville to study engineering at James Cook University.
Katrina McKeough (left) and Lochlan Parker (right) were among the four victims who died
Courtney Smith (left) and Kirsten Van Gorp (right) were also killed in the horror crash
Mr Parker was also studying engineering after he grew up in Townsville.
‘Roboclub simply wouldn’t have existed as it does without Kat and Lochlan’s contributions, and I personally owe both of them so much,’ one shattered friend posted on Facebook.
Ms Smith graduated from James Cook University last year before commencing study at Queensland University of Technology and had living living in Emerald in the Queensland’s Central Highlands.
Queensland Police told Daily Mail Australia the sedan driver lost control and smashed into the oncoming ute.
The male driver of the ute, aged in his early 20s, was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition with minor injuries.
The bend was just west of an intersection between Nerang-Murwillumbah Road and Beechmont Road and the area had received heavy rainfall in the previous hours.
Queensland Ambulance Service acting senior operations supervisor, Bill Houghton, said it was one of the worst crashes he has ever seen, The Courier Mail reported.
Emergency services were out in force to pick up the pieces after the fatal accident
‘It was a horrific scene,’ he said.
‘It’s probably one of the worst crashes I have been to.’
He said the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
‘There is a lot of work to be done in relation to the accident in terms of identifying these persons and advising next of kin, which has not been done at this stage,’ he told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
Acting Operations Supervisor, Jay Nevins said the stretch of road is notorious for traffic accidents.
‘Nerrang-Murwillumbah road is known for road traffic collisions,’ he explained.
‘It was ‘a tragic scene.’
More than $30 million was recently allocated to upgrade Nerang-Murwillumbah Road.
Police on scene said the horror crash on Saturday was one of the worst they had attended
‘I think for many years now, it has been identified that the road is due for some significant safety upgrades, particularly in the wet, rainy weather,’ Gold Coast City councillor Glenn Tozer told the ABC.
‘It’s just terribly sad that this tragedy has occurred before that funding could materialise into the construction of safety improvement.’
It’s been a horror 24 hours for the state’s road toll after an international tourist died when the four-wheel-drive they were travelling in rolled over on 75 Mile Beach on Fraser Island on Sunday.
Three others travelling in the vehicle were also taken to hospital.
A male cyclist, 42, hit by a ute on a early morning ride in Brisbane’s south last week also lost his fight for life on Saturday.
Queensland’s road toll in 2020 now stands at 134, almost 20 more than this time last year.
The road remained closed for several hours for forensic police to investigate the scene