All three children were still inside the vehicle when they were found. Photo: 123RF
By Nicolas Perpitch and Rebecca Trigger for ABC
The five-year-old daughter of a couple who tragically lost their lives in a car crash in Western Australia's Wheatbelt region saved her one-year-old brother who was still buckled in the seat of the four-wheel drive, according to a family member.
The two children and their two-year-old brother survived in the wreckage of the car for two days in hot conditions after the Christmas Day crash, and were taken dehydrated to Perth Children's Hospital where they are all now in a stable condition.
Their parents, Cindy Braddock and Jake Day, were killed in the crash, a short distance off the Corrigin-Kondinin Rd, and just a few kilometres from their Kondinin home.
Speaking outside the hospital, Day's cousin Michael Read said reports one child had received head injuries were not true.
"What I've gathered is the five-year-old became unstuck in the vehicle, and she then got the one-year-old out of the car seat, then they were stuck in the car for the 55 hours in 30C heat," Read told reporters.
"It would have been hard for the three children to be in the car for that whole time. Nobody knows what they went through.
"And if it wasn't for the five-year-old undoing the buckle of the one-year-old's car seat, he wouldn't be with us today."
"But all the kids are doing fine. They should be out within the next couple of days."
The family was still trying to understand and come to terms with what had happened.
"It is hard, having three kids now growing up with nobody. Apart from other family members," Read said.
"We're going bit by bit at the moment."
His advice for other drivers was to rest if they were tired.
"Know what your body limit is, don't drive tired," he said.
"If you're going to want to be somewhere, stay the night at a family's place. It's not worth it."
Relative found wreckage
A relative discovered the bodies of Braddock, 25, and Day, 28, in the wreckage of the family's car metres off the Corrigin-Kondinin Road, near Sykes Rd in the Wheatbelt just before midday on Tuesday.
Read said contrary to earlier reports, all three children were still inside the vehicle when they were found.
"All three kids were trapped inside the car until family members arrived on the crash scene yesterday," he said.
The two-year-old was still strapped in the car when the family member arrived.
Cindy Braddock and Jake Day Photo: WA Police
The relative who discovered the horrific scene had been involved in a frantic search for the family, who had not been seen since they began the two-hour drive from Northam at about 1am on Christmas morning.
They discovered the crash site just a few kilometres from their home in Kondinin, where the family had been planning to spend Christmas Day.
People laid flowers at the distressing scene, where a baby bottle and a teddy were among several items strewn across the ground.
A 23-year-old woman was killed on the same stretch of road on 6 August when her car struck a tree.
'They looked exhausted'
Nathan O'Donnell believes he may have been one of the last people to speak to the family.
He works at a petrol station in Northam and said they drove in at 1:11am on Christmas morning.
"They then got out, put fuel in, then they came in, they went to the toilet, they came and bought drinks and snacks and stuff for the road," O'Driscoll said.
"They looked very exhausted.
"He told me he was heading to Kondinin and that it was a couple of hours' drive.
"He looked exhausted... he didn't buy a coffee. Then he left, I told him good luck with the long drive.
"Unfortunately, he never made it."
'Just starting out in life'
Kondinin publican Darren Pool said community members were consoling each other.
"It's amazing the amount of traffic that would've gone past and not seen them," he said.
"[It will be a] difficult time ahead for everyone involved.
"The family were just starting out in the school, so very distressing."
He knew the family, which he said had been in the town for a "couple of years now".
"A young couple just starting out in life. Enjoyed each other's company, loved their kids, as everyone does at that age," Pool said.
- ABC
