A nine-year-old girl escaped from a car just moments before it was submerged in floodwaters in Australia, screaming that her family was still inside and had “gone into the river”.

In an unfolding tragedy that follows a devastating cyclone and flooding across eastern Australia, police divers have launched an operation to try to recover the bodies of the girl’s mother and older brother and younger sister. They are believed to be trapped in a car in the Tweed River, near the town of Tumbulgum in the state of New South Wales.

The car apparently veered off a muddy road and crashed into the river at 1.40pm, local time.

Thomas Grinham, a bystander, said he arrived on the scene soon after the car became submerged and saw “a little girl running along the road”. </s> UPDATE: A WOULD-BE rescuer has described how he desperately tried to save three people trapped in a sinking car at Tumbulgum today.

Emergency services are now facing the grim task of recovering three bodies after they found the submerged car about two hours after it plunged into the flood-swollen Tweed River.

A 10-year-old girl escaped from the car but her family - believed to be her mum, dad and sibling - were trapped inside after it crashed off Dulguigan Road at Tumbulgum at 1.40pm.

Police are now recovering the bodies after the car was found by sonar equipment about 5m from the northern river bank about 3.25pm.

Retired highway patrol officer Matt Grinham discovered the crash when he was driving to clean up flood damage at a family member's house.

He immediately dived into the freezing river with three other men and followed the bubbles coming out of the water as the submerged car floated downstream.

"We were going down feet first trying to work out where the car was," Mr Grinham told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

"Then we tried diving a couple of times but the water was so brown and cold ... the flood run off is freezing down there.

"The car was completely submerged when we got there."

The men could not reach the car.

Another witness Peter Taylor said a girl ran up the road and said her family had gone into the river.

"This little girl has run down the road, and she has said her mum and dad or family have gone into the river," he told Nine News.

"She is only a little thing and her feet were bleeding apparently, that's what the firies tell me, and they called an ambulance and called the police."

Scores of emergency services, including the rescue helicopter, raced to help with the operation.

The rescued child was taken to Tweed Heads District Hospital with cuts and lacerations to her lower legs as well as neck pain.

She is being cared for by family members.

Assistant Commissioner Northern Region Commander Jeff Loy said the car crashed off the road and plunged into the river.

"This is a tragic event and we're very concerned a tragic event will unfold over the evening.

"This is about heeding the warnings of the road closures, this has been a major event and the emergency services don't take those closures lightly."

The river was strewn with debris from the floods.

EARLIER: RESCUERS are frantically trying to find three people feared trapped in a submerged car that plunged into the flood-swollen Tweed River this afternoon.

A 10-year-old was pulled from the car after it came off Dulguigan Road at Tumbulgum, landing in the Tweed River about 1.40pm today.

There are fears three other people - including the child's mother and sibling - are still trapped inside the car.

Scores of emergency services have raced to the location and are searching for them.

The river was strewn with debris from the floods.

Chief Inspector Mick Dempsey said he couldn't confirm the circumstances of how the vehicle ended up in the Tweed River but did confirm the New South Wales Police diving unit was on its way to retrieve two females and a male from the water.

"About 1.40pm this afternoon a vehicle has travelled along Dulguigan Rd at Tumbulgum, it has gone into the Tweed River, one person has escaped from the vehicle and we're currently searing for three occupants of that vehicle," he said.

"With the assistance of SES as well as VRA to search the river, a private person bought a sonar device which we used to search and we have located an object believed to be the vehicle about five metres out from the north bank."

Chief Inspector Dempsey said he believed those in the vehicle were locals but could not confirm their ages.

Dulguigan Rd has been closed due to flood damage since Friday but police are urging people to stay away from the area for their own safety.

A NSW Ambulance spokesman said the rescued child had been taken to the Tweed Hospital.

"We have treated and stransported one female patient approximately 10 years old for cuts and lacerations to lower legs and neck pain," he said.

"The patient is being transporterd to the Tweed Hospital."

No further details are available. Diversions are in place. </s> A MOTHER and her young son and daughter are believed to have drowned after their car plunged into a flood swollen river in northern NSW this afternoon.

Police have located the submerged car near the northern bank of the Tweed River but are yet to recover the trio’s bodies. Fading light has delayed the recovery until tomorrow.

A NSW Police spokesperson said police drivers are travelling up from Sydney and a crime scene guard will remain at the scene overnight.

The alarm was raised when a 10-year-old girl managed to escape and was seen hysterically screaming to residents at a nearby property for help.

According to Seven News, witnesses said the young girl was screaming that her mother, brother and sister were all trapped in the car.

Fears a mother and two children have drowned in floodwaters just south of the Queensland border. @PeterFegan7 #7News https://t.co/ejOzeObQbf — 7 News Queensland (@7NewsQueensland) April 3, 2017

The vehicle plunged into the river after running off Dulguigan Road at Tumbulgum about 1.40pm.

NSW Police said sonar equipment had located the car submerged about five metres from the river bank about 3.25pm.

The bodies of the mother and her two children are believed to still be inside.

What caused the car to plunge into the river is not yet known.

Nearby residents frantically tried to rescue the occupants of the car but told reporters at the scene, they could see only bubbles rising to the surface.

Retired highway patrol officer Matt Grinham was passing by when he came across the scene.

He told the Gold Coast Bulletin that he dived into the water and followed the bubbles from the submerged car as it was washed downstream.

“We were going down feet first trying to work out where the car was,” Mr Grinham told the publication.

“Then we tried diving a couple of times but the water was so brown and cold … the flood run off is freezing down there.

“The car was completely submerged when we got there.”

Another witness, Peter Taylor said the girl’s feet were bleeding as she ran up the road desperately seeking help.

“This little girl has run down the road, and she has said her mum and dad or family have gone into the river,” he told Nine News.

“She is only a little thing and her feet were bleeding apparently, that’s what the fireys tell me, and they called an ambulance and called the police.”

The girl has been treated in hospital, where she remains, being cared for by family members.

Northern Region Assistant Commissioner Jeff Loy described the crash as a tragedy.

“This is a tragic event and we’re very concerned a tragic event will unfold over the evening,” he said.

“This is about heeding the warnings of the road closures, this has been a major event and the emergency services don’t take those closures lightly.”

Local road closures are in place near the crash site, as a large emergency services contingent remains on scene.

DEATH TOLL MOUNTS FOR FLOOD-HIT RESIDENTS

It’s the latest tragedy in what’s been a devastating few days for flood-hit residents of northern NSW towns.

Two women, 36 and 64, were carried off by floodwaters, while a 46-year-old man died in Murwillumbah from a heart attack when paramedics couldn’t reach him. A 45-year-old man was discovered dead at a South Murwillumbah caravan park, although his cause of death is yet to be confirmed.

A massive clean-up operation is underway as communities pick up the pieces of ruined homes and businesses.

Both NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited the region on Monday to get an update from the State Emergency Service and to let locals know they will be offered financial and moral support. Lismore, Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads residents have been given the all-clear to return home after floodwaters washed through the region over the past three days.

Ms Berejiklian has warned that while this was a “one-in-40-year event” such freak weather incidents were only going to increase.

The premier has also put insurance companies on notice to do right by their customers and process claims quickly.

“No-one is to drag their feet,” she said.

“They’ll be answerable to me.” The prime minister, who got on all fours and washed the floor in a Lismore restaurant, said enormous support was being offered to the town, including means-tested assistance for damaged homes and belongings to be administered through state governments.

Since Thursday, the SES has dealt with more than 2600 jobs and 480 flood rescues.

It is also reminding people to beware of receding floodwaters and drive carefully on damaged roads as they venture back home.

“Many of them are starting to realise that the extent of damage to their businesses and their homes are such that they are probably not likely to get back to any state of normality for weeks, if not months,” SES deputy acting commissioner Mark Morrow told media.

Residents have also been warned to watch out for wildlife that could have taken shelter in homes.

“We had people finding snakes, spiders and rats,” SES spokesman Phil Campbell said.

— With AAP </s> A mother and her two children are feared dead after their car plunged into a flooded river.

A third child - a 10-year-old girl - managed to escape the sinking car and swim to safety before alerting passers-by.

They launched a desperate effort to rescue her mother and siblings who were trapped in the vehicle.

However they were unable to free them as it sank to the bottom of the Tweed River near Tumbulgum, Australia.

The tragic incident occurred after torrential rain from Cyclone Debbie left rivers swollen and several areas flooded.

It is believed the car went into the river after it was involved in a minor collision on Dulguigan Road - which was slippery and covered in mud - on Monday afternoon.

Police launched a recovery operation after the submerged car was discovered by sonar equipment about 16ft from the riverbank.

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We're also on Facebook/dailymirror - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Mirror Online. </s> A body was found in floodwaters caused by the deluge of Cyclone Debbie as it devastates Queensland and northern NSW.

Police would not confirm if the grim discovery in South Murwillumbah, on the Tweed River, was related to the floods the engulfed the town.

The area is so waterlogged that police can't even access the body to find out how the victim died or identify them.

Officers said they had only received reports of the body and not actually seen it themselves, but would try to get to it with rescue boats when the waters cleared.

The cyclone flooding has already exceeded the destruction of historic 1954 and 1974 floods in northern NSW.

There were fears more people would die as tens of thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate and 140,000 Queenslanders remained without power.

Northern New South Wales towns Lismore and Tweed were declared natural disaster zones on Friday after about 20,000 residents were forced to abandon homes and properties overnight.

Authorities were unsure how many people were awaiting rescue as some may not have had access to phones.

Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said efforts were continuing in Lamington National Park to find a bushwalker missing since Wednesday.

Flooding at Murwillumbah in northern NSW was deeper than the 1954 floods by Friday morning and is expected to exceed the 1974 floods by the early afternoon, Bureau of Meteorology said.

MULWILLUMBAH DRENCHED WITH MORE THAN 400MM OF RAIN

Up to 423 millimetres of rain fell in Murwillumbah within 24 hours, Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday.

In parts of the northern rivers, 780mm fell within 48 hours in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie.

An exhausted horse to shelter in the doorway of a home at Murwillumbah on Friday, according to a heartbreaking photo shared on Facebook.

'She is completely exhausted and we have spoken with the vet,' the daughter of the horse' s wrote in a comment on the post.

Homes and business are underwater in Lismore on Friday as potentially deadly conditions continue.

Sirens in the northern NSW town are warning residents to head to higher ground or get on their roofs after floodwater topped the protective levee.

Three metres of water is expected to drown the town and exceed floods seen in 2001 and 2005, NSW SES Deputy Commissioner Mark Morrow said.

Some of those who called for help overnight couldn't be reached, with the possibility of the 'distressing news' of deaths to come, he said.

'There could be people overnight that perished in that flood, we don't know at this stage,' he told ABC television on Friday morning.

'We expect this morning that as we start to go out and try to find people that made those calls overnight, there could be some very distressing news.'

Lismore's city's siren was activated at 4.15am on Friday warning residents to leave immediately.

'It's the first time it's been activated in 12 years,' Lismore mayor Isaac Smith told AAP on Friday.

Floodwaters topped the 10.6 metre level at 4.15am on Friday, with water levels predicted to reach 11.5 metres later in the day, Mr Smith said.

The SES is predicting the situation could worsen during the day with a high tide due at 1pm.

The wind is expected to pick up on Friday, compounding the dangers.

'We'll start to see trees coming down, potentially powerlines,' Mr Morrow said.

'That's the back-end associated with that cyclone in Queensland.

'We're far from out of this and I think the recovery efforts that are going to have to occur are going to be significant.'

The Lismore mayor said people had been caught off guard, and the city is in uncharted territory.

Mr Smith said the city's protective levee had never failed Lismore before.

'It's never happened, 12 years now the levee's stood there and kept out major and minor floods,' he said.

'A lot of people here are just a bit concerned about how it's going to go, but we honestly don't know,' he told ABC TV on Friday.

Mr Morrow said floodwaters would reach the roof of homes or even higher.

'A lot of people that are going to be displaced from their businesses or their homes.'

'About 130 flood rescues, people in cars, people trapped on roofs of houses. We'll get out there as soon as we can in daylight with aerial assets as well, helicopters and we'll try and find those people that made calls to us last night and help them this morning.'

He said about 6,000 people had left their homes.

Residents in the flood zone caused by ex-tropical cyclone Debbie have spent the night holed up in evacuation centres, as the system tracked south past Brisbane and into northern NSW.

River levels in some threatened communities were continuing to rise, even on a low tide, when they should be starting to drop.

'In some places further to the north, like Chinderah up around Tweed Heads where the water should be falling on a low tide now it's actually increasing. That's not a good sign for today.'

He said 13 evacuation orders remained current, affecting about 25,000 people in northern NSW towns.

People in Tweed Heads South and West, Chinderah, Kingscliff, Fingal Head and Bilambil have been told to leave.

Closer to the Queensland border, residents in 500 homes in the South Murwillumbah, Condong and Tumbulgum areas were also ordered to evacuate, with the Tweed River experiencing major flooding.

Authorities have lamented those ignoring advice and driving through floodwaters.

SES spokesman Brent Hunter those people were 'playing Russian roulette with their lives', Daily Telegraph reported.

A 'WALL OF WATER' HEADS FOR THE GOLD COAST

Gold Coast residents have been warned to prepare as wind gusts up to 100km/h are expected to lash the region this afternoon.

Meanwhile, residents of low-lying parts of Logan and the Gold Coast have been told to move to higher ground as a 'wall of water' heads towards the region.

The Gold Coast council has told residents near the northern suburbs of Stapylton and Jacobs Well to evacuate, and warned those who remain behind they risk being trapped by floodwaters for several days.

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said people in the area should get out now.

'Floodwaters are approaching, and they are putting out SMS alerts to people in those areas, asking people to go to higher ground, to evacuate to friends and family,' he said.

'They are urgent alerts and we have asked the community to take them seriously.

Residents in low-lying areas around Beenleigh have also been told to get out as the Albert River continues to rise towards a possible 130-year record level.

The Bureau of Meteorology says the river level may reach around 8.0 metres in the areas on Friday afternoon, near the 8.1 metre record level set in 1887.

Logan Mayor Luke Smith told the Courier Mail a 'wall of water' was heading for the area from the Scenic Rim region.

'We're in for a significant inundation of major flooding. It's just about waiting to see where all the water happens to go.'

Floodwaters are expected to peak around midday today in both areas.

Bureau of Meteorology regional director Bruce Gunn said rainfall totals across the southeast had been extraordinary, with falls of more than 800mm in the Gold Coast hinterland in 48 hours.

The Beaudesert area has already been beset by record floodwaters after being pounded by heavy rain from ex-cyclone Debbie.

BOM has also warned of possible minor flooding along the Brisbane River at the Brisbane CBD overnight on Friday and on Saturday.

There are also concerns about possible flooding in Rockhampton next week as water makes its way down from rivers upstream.

AUTHORITIES HIT OUT AT 'FOOLISH' BEHAVIOUR DURING FLOODING

Meanwhile, State Disaster Coordinator Stephan Gollschewski has hit out at 'foolish and quite stupid behaviour' from some during the floods

In one case a man was charged with drink-driving after driving into flood waters with his partner and two young children west of Brisbane.

And on Thursday a boy was swept away after tying his boogie board to a bridge so he could surf a torrent of water coming down a creek. He was lucky to survive and managed to swim to safety.

All schools in southeast Queensland remain closed for the second consecutive day but the worst of the weather has passed over the Brisbane area, where the sun has come out.

Meanwhile, Mr Gollschewski said the focus in north Queensland, where Cyclone Debbie crossed the coast as a category four storm on Tuesday, had switched to restoring essential services such as communication and power networks, to aid the recovery effort there.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the SES had dealt with about 5600 calls for help since the cyclone disaster began earlier this week.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said around 140,000 households were without powers across the southeast and north Queensland.

More than 90,000 homes are currently without power in the southeast and a further 50,000 in the Bowen, Mackay and Whitsunday regions.

Some will be without power for days.

She said 630 power lines were affected by Thursday's extreme weather in Queensland's southeast.

The police commissioner also said efforts were continuing in the Lamington National Park, near the Queensland-NSW border, to find a bushwalker missing since Wednesday.

'He remains unaccounted for. You can just imagine what the conditions are like are there ... It would be a very treacherous situation,' Mr Stewart said.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Mike Wassing said the state's flood emergency wasn't over, particularly for communities near the NSW border.

'Our greatest area of concern this morning for people living in the areas of Beenleigh, Waterford, Woodend and Beaudesert,' he told ABC television.

'We currently got major flood warnings for the Albert River and the Logan River.'

He described the situation as 'very serious'.

'It is very serious, it's a major flood warning. If you're in low-lying areas, safely move to high grounds.'

Swift water rescue firefighters had saved the lives of 85 people trapped in floodwaters.

Mr Wassing confirmed there had been 'a number of rescues and continue to have as we speak'.

At 1am Friday, Queensland police urged residents of Beaudesert in southeast Queensland to warn neighbours, secure belongings and move to higher ground as it was hit by record flooding and the Logan River continued to rise.

Nine News reported some in Beaudesert had to seek refuge on the roof of their cars as the waters rose.

The Logan River in the town was at 13.91 metres early Friday morning, equivalent to the level seen in the town's record 1991 flood and the river is not expected to peak until 7am (AEST).

Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutshke told Daily Mail Australia Lismore and other areas have been hit with the most rain since the floods of 1974.

There is very little rain expected to come but emergency services are warning the danger is not over.

Cattle farmers have had massive livestock losses in central Queensland,

'Beef producers in the Clarke Creek and Lotus Creek region on the old highway between Mackay and Rockhampton were particularly hard hit with a metre of rain falling in just over 24 hours,' AgForce CEO Charles Burke said.

He said farmers were still assessing the damage.

'Farming families in the region have never seen water levels like it, and we've had reports of cattle and horses being washed away, families sitting on kitchen tables to stay safe and major damage to sheds and other structures, while all the local bridges and crossings have been completely smashed.

'It's extremely difficult to get in touch with producers in all the different affected areas with many properties isolated by floodwaters, power supplies cut and phone lines still down.'

The first guests have been evacuated from the Whitsunday islands resorts smashed by Cyclone Debbie but thousands remain stranded on Hamilton Island.

Daydream Island is expected to be closed for a month as further assessments of the extensive damage continue.

All guests and more than 100 staff have been evacuated from Daydream after the category four storm belted the region but many more remain stuck at other resorts.

The Australian Defence Force delivered food, fuel and water to Daydream Island earlier on Thursday, while local ferries were organised to shuttle guests back to the mainland.

The 3,000 people stranded on nearby Hamilton Island, which was lashed with the strongest recorded winds on Thursday at 263 km/h, face a longer wait to reach the mainland.

Twelve flights have been scheduled between Hamilton Island and Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Checking in could take up to 25 minutes per passenger, a statement on the Hamilton Island website said.

'We have been advised airlines will be bringing up large volumes of staff to assist with this process,' the statement said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten visited Bowen in the Whitsunday region on Thursday morning, making financial aid available immediately to the local council to start rebuilding infrastructure.

A emergency services source told AAP South Molle Island, to the northwest of Hamilton Island, had been 'totally devastated' but no one was there when Debbie struck.

Nearby Hayman Island has also suffered significant damage preventing emergency services personnel landing on Wednesday.

Ms Palaszczuk is standing by her last-minute decision to close southeast Queensland schools on Thursday.

The premier made the call to shut schools from Agnes Water to the Queensland border early on Thursday morning, and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad announced the move on live television after 7am.

But parents did not receive a text message notifying them of the closure until around 10am, after school was already due to have started.

Ms Palaszczuk has previously apologised for the inconvenience but on Friday defended the timing, saying she made the decision to close schools as soon as she learnt that ex-Cyclone Debbie would bring even worst torrential rain and flooding than initially expected.

'We were expecting between 100mm-200mm of rain,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

'When the (weather) bureau met first thing that morning, they saw there was going to be a whole lot more rain coming into the southeast corner as well as those thunderstorms and the high wind gusts.

'So as soon as the bureau alerted the authorities, that decision was made.'

She said she did not want to put children's lives at risk. </s> On France’s Riviera coast, the rise of the River Garonnette in the Var region swept five cars towards the nearby sea, as torrential rain wrought havoc on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.

Two people were found dead in one of the cars, which was tossed upside down in the water and left rocking on its roof in shallow-water waves on a beach. The bodies of a man and a woman were discovered by scuba divers at Saint-Maxime, near the famed film-festival city of Cannes.

In Italy, the island of Sardinia was also hit by bad weather. Hours of heavy rain pushed river levels dangerously high. A woman died after her car was trapped by the flooding, while a shepherd was reported missing.

The woman had been with her husband and three children who fled from their home, fearing that a nearby river at Assemini was set to burst its banks, ANSA reported.

Dozens of people in the Cagliari region were evacuated, and several roads were closed due to collapse or high water levels.

Clean-up operations are continuing in the Spanish island of Mallorca after deadly flash flooding killed at least 12 people, including three Germans, two Britons and a Dutch woman.

The British couple killed have been named by the UK Foreign Office as Antony and Delia Green, who lived at Moffat in southern Scotland. They were in their seventies and had been in a taxi which became submerged by flood water in the resort of S’illot. The taxi driver, Juan Sillero, was also killed.

The search has been ongoing for a five-year-old boy reported missing following the storm on Tuesday. His mother is thought to have died while trying to save him and his sister from flood waters. She reportedly managed to pull her seven-year-old daughter from their car but was dragged away with her son.

Residents are clearing mud and removing debris from the streets in San Llorenc des Cardassar, one of the towns most devastated by the sudden floods. Mallorcan-born tennis champion Rafael Nadal, who lives in the area, helped in the clean-up effort – while his tennis academy at nearby Manacor opened up as an emergency shelter.

The regional government has declared three days of mourning. Spain’s central government says it has taken the first steps to ensure that those affected receive the necessary help as soon as possible. </s> In a tragic incident at a tourist attraction in Nawabshah, at least eight people of a family drowned after a boat carrying them capsized.

NAWABSHAH: In a tragic incident at a tourist attraction in Nawabshah on Thursday, at least eight people of a family drowned after a boat carrying them capsized.



According to the police, six bodies were fished out while the search for two people is still underway. Bodies of three women and children each were shifted to a nearby hospital.

The children were in the age bracket of five to fifteen years.

Additional Commissioner Imtiaz Rajpar said that the incident occurred at an illegal water park, which had no safety measures placed at the site, he added that the man running the tourist attraction has been taken into custody. </s> NAWABSHAH: In a tragic incident at a tourist attraction in Nawabshah on Thursday, at least eight people of a family drowned after a boat carrying them capsized.



According to the police, six bodies were fished out while the search for two people is still underway. Bodies of three women and children each were shifted to a nearby hospital.

The children were in the age bracket of five to fifteen years.

Additional Commissioner Imtiaz Rajpar said that the incident occurred at an illegal water park, which had no safety measures placed at the site, he added that the man running the tourist attraction has been taken into custody. </s> Police probing how four people were killed when a river rapids ride flipped at Australia's biggest theme park say CCTV has captured exactly how the tragedy unfolded.

Four adults - Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett and Roozi Araghi - died at the Dreamworld theme park on the Thunder River Rapids ride.

Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd said officers have reviewed CCTV revealing one raft flipped after a crash and the victims were tossed onto a conveyor belt.

They were then crushed after being caught in the ride's mechanism.
• Fourth victim of Dreamworld theme park horror was mum who died in front of 10-year-old son

He said: "Two of those (rafts) have come together and as a result one has flipped backwards and it has caught and tossed some of the people that were on the ride backwards on the conveyor belt.

He said after the raft flipped it resulted in “persons being variously caught in machinery”.

Investigators will spend weeks scouring yesterday’s accident scene and interviewing witnesses in an all-out effort to confirm the exact cause of the tragedy.

Cindy Low, 42, died in front of her 10-year-old son, who managed to escape it has emerged.
• Dreamworld rollercoaster crash: Four dead in theme park horror after water ride carriage 'flips over on conveyor belt'

Cindy was on the ill-fated ride with husband Matthew and their children, a boy and a girl aged six.

According to local media, Cindy and her son were on a separate raft to her husband and daughter when tragedy struck.

Their raft apparently 'flipped over' when another in front became lodge on the conveyor belt near the end of the ride.

The four adults on board, including Cindy as well as Kate Goodchild, Kate's brother, Luke Dorsett and Roozi Araghi, were all killed after getting trapped underneath.

Cindy's son and Kate's 12-year-old daughter managed to escape but both saw their mothers killed in front of them.

It is believed Cindy, who was originally from New Zealand but lived in Sydney, did not know the others on her raft.

Police have described it as "a miracle" that the children survived.

Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd said: "In terms of how they escaped, maybe through the providence of God.

"From what I have seen, it's almost a miracle that anybody came out of that."

It is the latest grim detail to emerge from the worst theme park accident in Australia for almost 40 years.

Investigations into what caused it are ongoing.
• Eyewitness describes harrowing Dreamworld accident as rapids ride 'flipped' leaving woman 'hanging by her foot' on Australia's Gold Coast

Police are investigating if the cause of the incident was equipment malfunction or if it was human error.

Visitors said they had seen the ride being repaired earlier, but Dreamworld was unable to confirm the reports.

Asked if there were any earlier problems with the ride, Todd Reid, an inspector with Queensland Police, said: “I’m not aware, but that will be part of the investigation.”

The ride, which simulates river rapids, uses tyre-shaped floating rafts that seat six and can reach speeds of 28mph.

It is described as a “moderate thrill” attraction for anyone aged two or older.

Park owner Ardent Leisure Group said Dreamworld would remain closed today out of respect for the victims.

Chief executive Craig Davidson said the firm was “deeply shocked and saddened by this and our hearts and thoughts go to the families involved and their loved ones”.

The tragedy comes a month after Alton Towers in Staffordshire was fined £5million for the Smiler rollercoaster crash which left 16 people injured, including two teenage girls who needed legs amputating.

The world’s worst theme park accidents include a 1971 fire at Six Flags Great Adventure Park in New Jersey, US, that left eight teenagers dead.

Seven were killed by fire at Sydney’s Luna Park ghost train in 1979.
A mother and two children drown after their car plunges into the flooded Tweed River, raising the death toll to eight people. A ten-year-old girl escapes and alerts authorities.