Police divers have recovered the bodies of a mother and two children from a car that plunged into the flooded Tweed River yesterday afternoon

The incident occurred near Tumbulgum, just south of the border with Queensland. The bodies are yet to be formally identified. Police divers have not yet recovered the vehicle.

Another child, a girl aged 8, managed to escape from the car before it sank and raised the alarm. Her mother, 43, and two siblings, aged seven and 11, remained trapped in the vehicle which was carried around 40 metres downstream before sinking. Boats located the vehicle in around 5 metres of water on the northern riverbank.

The surviving child is now being cared for by family members and police believe she escaped with help from her mother, who died trying to save her other children

However, police claims that the road was closed when the accident occurred have been disputed by a local priest, who told ABC radio Sydney today it was open and being used by residents.

Officers from Tweed/Byron local area command are investigating the exact circumstances surrounding the crash.

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