A five-year-old girl saved her younger brother’s life after a crash that killed their parents in country Western Australia.

December 28, 2022

A five-year-old girl saved her younger brother’s life after a Christmas Day crash that killed their parents and left them trapped inside their vehicle for more than two days.

Jake Day, 28, and Cindy Braddock, 25, died after their 4WD left the road and rolled about 10km from their hometown of Kondinin, in country Western Australia.

The couple had driven 200km from Northam when at about 1am on Sunday the family’s Landrover left the road and flipped onto its roof in bushland.

Their three children, who survived the accident but were trapped in the upturned vehicle with their dead parents, weren’t found until about midday on Tuesday.

Mr Day’s cousin Michael Read told reporters the couple’s daughter had saved her younger brother’s life during their ordeal.

“The five-year-old became unstuck in the vehicle and she then got the one-year-old out of the car seat when they were stuck in the car for the 55 hours in 30 degree heat,” he said on Wednesday.

“If it wasn’t for the five-year-old undoing the buckle on the one-year-old’s seat he wouldn’t be with us today.”

He said family friends discovered the accident site, where the couple’s daughter and two sons, aged one and two, were badly dehydrated inside the station wagon, with the older boy still strapped to a seat.

They were flown to Perth Children’s Hospital for medical treatment where they remain in a stable condition.

“It would have been hard for the three children to be in that car for the whole time,” Mr Read said.

“Nobody knows what they went through.”

Photos and television footage from the crash site show a baby bottle and clothing about 10 metres from a straight section of road, along with flowers and a handwritten note placed by a family member at the scene.

Local councillor and hotel manager Darren Pool said residents were in shock over the “traumatic” incident on the town’s outskirts.

“Being so close to town and no one had noticed it,” he said.

“People have been driving past it for a couple of days. That’s probably the biggest shock for me.”

Mr Pool said Mr Day and Ms Braddock were “battlers” who “did everything for their kids”.

“What we do from here is going to be the hard bit,” he said.

Councillor Bruce Browning said he was horrified that the children were so close to the highway and not found until Tuesday.

“It’s going to be something that will take a long time to get over, if they ever do,” he told ABC News.

“I feel so sorry for those young kids that had to endure what they did.

“It’s horrific. Like any accident like this, obviously it’s tragic.”

Casey Guyer and Kailee Wallace have set up a Go Fund Me page to help the couple’s family, with more than $6000 raised of the $10,000 goal.

“Devastatingly Jake and Cindy did not survive the accident but an angel was looking over the kids,” they wrote.

“It was a miracle their beautiful babies survived for over two days in the Australian outback.”