The five-year-old daughter of a couple who tragically lost their lives in a car crash in WA'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 Road, and just a few kilometres from their Kondinin home.
Speaking outside the hospital, Mr 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 30-degree heat," Mr 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," Mr 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 Ms Braddock, 25, and Mr Day, 28, in the wreckage of the family's car metres off the Corrigin-Kondinin Road near Sykes Road in the Wheatbelt just before midday on Tuesday.
Mr 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.
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 August 6 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," Mr 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," Mr Pool said.
Calls to upgrade road
Shire of Kondinin councillor Bruce Browning said the road was "very much in need of an upgrade".
"Out of all the highways leading out of Perth, it is probably in the worst shape," he said.
Mr Browning said the "close-knit" community of Kondinin was reeling from the "tragic" loss of two of their own.
"It's like any country town, they've got volunteers who go do this sort of work and I feel very sorry for them," Mr Browning said.
"My heart goes out to the volunteers who had to go out to this accident and find those children and the deceased like that so I take my hat off to them and to the police.
"We are just horrified that children could be so close to the highway and not found for so long."
Road widened and sealed as part of safety program
In a statement, Main Roads said it did not believe there was an issue with the condition of the Corrigin-Kondinin Road where the crash occurred.
"Last financial year, road shoulders on this section of the Corrigin-Kondinin Road were widened and sealed as part of the $827 million Regional Road Safety Program being rolled out across Western Australia,” the statement said.
"This program will see safety improvements to 8,500 kilometres of country roads by mid-2024.
"A number of pavement repairs were also completed on this section of road last financial year."
But shire president Kent Mouritz echoed Mr Browning's concerns, describing the roads in the area as "dangerous" and deteriorating quickly.
Mr Mouritz stressed he was not saying the road conditions necessarily caused the crash, but the huge number of trucks on the roads were damaging it.
"Everywhere in the Wheatbelt, roads are broken up," Mr Mouritz said, pointing to the lack of rail to transport grain as a real problem in the area.
"The increased heavy traffic on the roads, due to the non-use of rail lines, has created a dangerous situation," he said.
"That particular stretch of road, because there's no grain on rail from Kondinin to Merredin, all that grain has to go over that road west of Kondinin to Brookton."
Mr Mouritz said the impact of the crash on a small rural community like Kondinin would be long-lasting.
"These things cut deep in little communities," he said.
"Everybody knows everybody. It's almost like family for people who aren't family."
