Three Dead After Highway Chase Sparked by Carjacking

Three people are dead after a horrific collision on a major Queensland highway, an incident that began with an armed carjacking on a Thursday afternoon and escalated into tragedy within hours.

Emergency services responded to the Bruce Highway near Federal, north of the Sunshine Coast, just after 4am on Friday morning. The collision involved three vehicles near exit 244. A 65-year-old man and 25-year-old woman in one vehicle were killed at the scene. A 38-year-old woman driving a separate vehicle heading in the opposite direction also died. The sole survivor—the driver of a third vehicle—suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital under police guard.

One witness who arrived at the scene described finding a vehicle "completely squished up against the concrete between the two different lanes," with debris scattered across both directions of traffic.

The sequence of events began on Thursday afternoon in Gympie, when a man approached a parked vehicle. After the woman inside returned to her car with her three children, the man opened the driver's door, produced a knife, and demanded the vehicle. The woman and children complied, and the man drove off in a 2019 Isuzu MU-X.

Hours later, in the early hours of Friday morning, that stolen vehicle was on the Bruce Highway. According to police, the man behind the wheel was chasing another vehicle carrying the couple. As he attempted to ram their car near a northbound section of the highway, both vehicles crossed into oncoming traffic, colliding with the third vehicle.

Police confirmed the stolen vehicle was involved in the carjacking, linking the two incidents. However, investigators remain uncertain about the motive for the chase. A police statement said they are investigating "what relationship or interaction the occupant of the stolen vehicle and occupants of the second vehicle may have had prior to this incident."

Whether the man knew the couple, whether it was a case of mistaken identity, or whether a personal dispute led to the chase remains under investigation. The driver of the stolen vehicle was described as Caucasian, in his early 20s, with sandy blonde hair.

The crash forced closure of the Bruce Highway, with authorities warning of significant traffic delays and urging drivers to use alternate routes. The incident underscores how carjacking—already a violent crime—can create cascading dangers on busy roads, putting other motorists at risk.