A small Queensland community is mourning the death of two toddlers who were found dead in a car on Friday night (local time).
Queensland Police are investigating the deaths of two toddlers, aged two and three, after an incident at a property in Woorabinda, an Aboriginal community 520km north-west of Brisbane, on Friday night.
The first child, the two-year-old, was found unresponsive in a parked car at the rear of a home just before 8pm and taken to the local hospital, according to Central Region Crime Coordinator Darrin Shadlow.
The two-year-old was declared dead at the hospital.
After being alerted to the tragedy, police went to the home at about 9:15pm, where they found the three-year-old boy unresponsive in the same car.
Shadlow said CPR was performed, but the child was pronounced dead.
"The second (child) was laying down in the rear footwell of the vehicle and wasn't seen by the residents when they located the first child," Shadlow said.
Police are now working to determine how the tragedy occurred.
"They hadn't travelled in that vehicle, the vehicle was in the rear yard of the residence," Shadlow said.
"So it appears that it's a tragic accident where the children have somehow gotten into the vehicle and had been there for some time."
Shadlow confirmed the children were related and the vehicle had no electronic functions. The investigation will look into whether the children locked themselves in the vehicle.
"We will examine the vehicle meticulously in relation to the locks on the doors, all of that kind of thing," Shadlow said.
"It's not a used vehicle, so there was no electronics for the windows or anything like that."
Shadlow also confirmed there were family members home at the time of the "traumatic event" and officers are speaking to them.
"It's a close-knit community, Woorabinda," he said. "It's a tragic event for the community and also for the hospital staff and the first responders."
Queensland government minister Leanne Linard said the two deaths were tragic and would bring "deep grief" to the community.
"[It's] incredibly traumatic for that family, incredibly traumatic for that community, and my thoughts and heart are with them," she said.
