A mother and her baby were among a party of five people rescued after their car broke down on a remote road near the Western Australian border.

Police received a report around 7.30pm yesterday from concerned relatives after the group failed to arrive in Kintore. The party set out from Tjukala in Western Australia at 8am the morning before for what should have been a 12 hour drive along the Sandy Blight Road.

Police from Kintore set out to locate the missing party and found two members of the group approximately 30 kilometres south west of Kintore. The pair told police they had set out to walk for help after the car broke down. Police found the remaining members of the party still with the vehicle eleven kilometres further on. The three adults and 18 month old baby were dehydrated after having spent 27 hours in the vehicle waiting for help. Temperatures were in excess of 43 degrees for most of the day and the group had run out of water.

Acting Superintendent Darrell Kerr said the family were lucky to be alive after their ordeal.

"If they hadn't let someone know they were coming it could have ended tragically as no-one would have raised the alarm when they failed to show up," Acting Superintendent Kerr said.

"But the fact they ran out of water is a timely reminder to people to be well-prepared when travelling these remote roads. Get your vehicle checked before the trip to limit the risk of break-downs, and always ensure you have plenty of water and food, just in case the unforseen happens.

"In this case, as it turns out, there was a happy ending when they were rescued by police, but it could well have ended in tragedy."


Media contact:
Theresa Kuilboer
8951 8825
0419 803 603