The first words of child left orphaned after a horror crash that killed her two parents were 'Nanny is going to look after us now' when she was discovered by family friends.
The five-year-old girl and her two younger siblings spent two days stranded alongside the wreckage before they were found while their dead parents lay inside. The Mirror reports that the horrific crash happened on a motorway on Christmas Day in Western Australia, 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 two days later. When the children were eventually found at 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."
When the car was discovered, it was thought that all five family members had tragically died. It wasn't until they heard the young girl's cries from inside the car that they realised that 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.
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."
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