SYDNEY—A nine-year-old British boy and his father were killed, and the boy’s mother and brother were critically injured in a landslide on a hiking trail in Australia’s Blue Mountains national park on Monday, police said.
A 15-year-old girl from the same family survived and left the scene on foot, accompanied by emergency services, officers added.
The situation was heartbreaking, New South Wales ambulance superintendent Stuart Clarke told reporters.
The nine-year-old boy and his 49-year-old father died at the scene on the Wentworth Falls hiking track west of Sydney, police said.
The 50-year-old mother and 14-year-old son were winched out of the valley by a rescue helicopter after being sedated, New South Wales police told reporters.
The five were holidaying in Australia, police said. The British Consulate is assisting in the matter.
The landslip follows weeks of wet weather in Sydney. The Blue Mountains get 4 million tourists a year, the most of any national park in Australia.
The area was extremely dangerous and unstable for rescuers, Detective Superintendent John Nelson, from the Blue Mountains area command, said.
The injured hikers had suffered head and abdominal injuries, paramedics said.
Emergency services were called to Wentworth Pass, Wentworth Falls, around 1:40 p.m.
By Kirsty Needham
