A five-year-old girl left orphaned with her two young siblings after a horror car crash said to family friends who discovered them: "Nanny is going to look after us now".
The girl, along with her two younger siblings, spent two days stranded alone beside the wreckage of their family car before they were found, while their parents lay dead inside.
The highway rollover happened on Christmas day in Western Australia, in Wheatbelt 279km east of Perth.
Parents Cindy Braddock, 25, and Jake Day, 28 died when the Land Rover Discovery flipped and crashed on the Corrigin-Kondinin Road, however the wreckage wasn't found until shortly before midday on December 27.
When family friends came across the site of the crash after 55 hours in 30 degree heat, the five-year-old's first words uttered were "Nanny is going to look after us now".
Kailee Wallace, a close friend of Ms Braddock and partner of Mr Day’s cousin Michael Read, told the West Australian that there was "no real theory as to how they survived other than a miracle".
"When they found [the five-year-old], she made a comment that 'Nanny is going to look after us now'," Ms Wallace said.
"She’s incredible, her brother would not be here if it wasn’t for her and she loves her Nanny."
Michael Read, the cousin of Mr Day, said the distraught friends who discovered the tragic scene initially thought all five family members had died in the crash.
It wasn't until they heard the young girl's cries from inside the vehicle that he realised this wasn't the case.
The girl had saved the life of her one-year-old brother by releasing him from his baby capsule and lying next to him, on the inside roof of the flipped-over vehicle.
The two-year-old remained trapped in his car seat, where he clung to his sister's foot for comfort as they waited for help to arrive.
According to local reports, the children would be living at a farmhouse in Kondinin with their grandmother, local hospital orderly Annette Day.
The trio were initially rushed to Perth Children’s Hospital via helicopter suffering severe dehydration however had since been cleared of any serious injuries.
They had been showered with gifts in hospital from adoring family and friends.
Ms Wallace said the "smart" five-year-old girl had been helping nurses at the hospital check on her younger brothers and had said she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.
"She’s been in kindy, but we’ve been told she’s been doing maths with the Year 2 kids," Ms Wallace said.
"She’s a special little girl."
