An 18 year old woman has died and an 18 year old boy remains in critical condition after they fell while coming down Mount Beerwah in the Glass House Mountains on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Sunday morning.
Emergency crews were called to the mountain about 10.30am after reports that the teenagers had fallen a long way.
The young woman from Brisbane, was found with life threatening injuries and was declared dead at the scene. The boy, also from Brisbane was flown to Sunshine Coast University Hospital for urgent treatment after suffering critical injuries.
The pair fell while climbing while the girl’s sister saw the fall and could do nothing to stop it.
Police said the two fell between about 50 and 100 metres in hard conditions as they made their way down the mountain.
Senior Sergeant Kylie McLellan said light rain had made the ground slippery and the descent dangerous.
She described the incident as a very sad accident and said the response was made harder by rough ground and bad weather.
The rescue involved specialist mountain and remote area crews with emergency teams making their way across the mountain to reach the teenagers and bring the others down safely.
Police said six climbers across two groups were caught up in the incident. The dead teenager had been climbing with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend while a separate group nearby helped with first aid. The other four people were rescued and were not physically hurt.
The tragedy has also raised fresh questions about access to Mount Beerwah, one of the region’s best known but most demanding climbs.
The Queensland government’s park alert shows the mountain had been closed from 9 March because of high rainfall with all access routes shut over fears of rockfall above the summit route.
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The alert said barriers and warning signs were in place and warned visitors not to enter the closed area.
The closure had been due to stay in place until at least 17 March with authorities checking the track for further rockfall risk.
Sunday’s fatal fall is likely to bring more attention to safety on the mountain and whether stronger steps are needed when conditions become dangerous.
