A man and woman have died after becoming trapped in an SUV that crashed into a remote creek near the NSW-Queensland border overnight.

Emergency services were called to Carwal Creek Bridge near Mungindi township, south-west of Brisbane, after reports that an SUV had left Morialta Road just after 1am.

Friends travelling in another vehicle along the same route searched for the car and its three occupants after noticing it was no longer following them. They discovered the crash scene in the creek soon after.

A local property owner helped one of the passengers – a woman believed to be in her 20s – out of the vehicle. She was flown to Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Despite efforts to free the other two occupants, they remained trapped in the vehicle.

Officers from the New England Police District, as well as NSW Ambulance and the Mungindi Rural Fire Service attended the scene, with police divers and crash investigators arriving early on Sunday.

NSW Police confirmed the man and woman trapped in the vehicle had died and were removed from the car some time before midday on Sunday. The SUV remained submerged.

More details to come.