Car rolls off barge at Ipskip Point

The incident happened on Saturday morning 31 December 2016, as a group of holiday makers were making the crossing from Inskip Point to the island.

The 4×4 slipped off the back of the ferry into the sea. Apparently the handbrake was on but the vehicle was not in gear.

Vehicle belonged to a local tour operator from Rainbow Beach.Luckily nobody was in the vehicle at the time but a group of backpackers using the vehicle lost their phones, passports, bank cards and just about everything else of value they had with them.

Backpacker Chloe Swift told the ABC it was a “really sad and scary start” to her Fraser Island trip.

“There were a lot of girls obviously crying their phones and everything are in the car that sunk,” she said.

“The people who have lost their stuff have to go back to the hostel and borrow stuff they have lost.”
A spokesman for Manta Ray Fraser Island Barges told the ABC the incident was being investigated and no further comment would be made.

Please make sure you always use handbrake and leave vehicle in gear when parking on the barge. Last thing you want is to loose your car on the barge. Dirk Lol